


The Murder of Juno Ferguson

by My_Dixon_Narratives



Category: The Walking Dead & Related Fandoms
Genre: Adult Content, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-04-18
Packaged: 2019-03-19 16:39:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 35,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13708443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/My_Dixon_Narratives/pseuds/My_Dixon_Narratives
Summary: Merle Dixon is a legend in the Atlanta homicide department. He takes his job very seriously and when his partner of many years retires he takes on mentoring his younger brother Daryl who has just transferred over from vice. They are met with one of their first big cases together when a beautiful young college student named Juno Ferguson is murdered. Merle struggles with the heavy burden of the murder investigations he takes on and is beginning to crack a little under the strain, but he also makes it his top priority to teach his brother everything he knows and to solve every case he receives as if it's personal.





	1. Standing Sentinel

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KrissyG927](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KrissyG927/gifts).



> This story is different for me. Mystery's are difficult to write and I tried my best:)  
> There is not a lot of smut in this story because it's just not that kind of story but I'm also going to be posting more stories in Boss Man: Merle as I post this story so there will be smut there:)  
> Thanks for reading. Please go easy on me as this is very new for me:)  
> Love, Teagan xoxo  
> I'll be posting every FRIDAY:)

_ **The Murder of Juno Ferguson** _

_**~ Chapter One** _

_**{ Standing Sentinel }** _

_**April 2006** _

 

"Another late night, baby?"

Merle sat up straight at his desk, a whiskey bottle still standing sentinel before him; he was dreading the next day. The last time he lay eyes on the clock it was 3:42 am, and that wasn't out of the ordinary at all lately.

"Is there any other kind of night?" he groaned.

His mornings kept starting this way no matter how many times he swore he'd stop burning the midnight oil. Merle had a beautiful wife to lay next to, but the dead would often keep him up. Homicide cops aged fast and hard but they did the ugly things that nobody else even wanted to think of. They saw the bodies; they informed the families, they tore themselves apart trying to bring some justice to a hopeless situation. When they weren't able to bring justice, they were the ones who wore it like a cloak of shame from one day to the next.

"Come have some breakfast with us," she purred, bending down to kiss his neck.

This was Sunday morning, and it was supposed to be his day off, but there were no days off in his mind. Still, Merle got up and came to sit at the kitchen table for breakfast with his wife and the boys. Brady and Mark were still little ones who didn't really understand what daddy did besides being a policeman; he wanted to keep it that way as long as possible. Merle stared down at his plate of pancakes and listened to his 3 and 5-year-old bicker over who had gotten more syrup. How was he supposed to live this life while he was also investigating the kind of crimes that would make most people sick to their stomachs? He didn't know the answer to questions like this, but it was eating at him more every day regardless.

"Daddy?"

Merle looked up at the older of the two boys and smiled warmly at him; his boys were still very much alive and healthy.

"What's up, boy?"

"Can I be a policeman when I grow up too?"

"You can be anything you want to, Brady," he smiled, secretly hoping he wouldn't be a policeman, at least not the type that he was.

"I want to catch the bad guys!" he grinned and then continued to shoot imaginary bank robbers with his tiny fingers aimed like guns.

"Eat your pancakes if you want to be a big man like your daddy," Andrea winked down at the boy.

The smaller of the two boys just watched and smiled; he was more of the strong silent type. The boys were close enough in age that Brady often spoke for Mark.

"And what are you gonna be, little guy?" Merle asked of him.

"I'm stayin' wif mama!" the three-year-old answered with a satisfied smile.

"Sounds like a hell of a plan, kid. I think I'll join ya," he said, looking over at his wife with a loving glance; she was everything to him and had been for years.

The day was peaceful and when the kids took an afternoon nap, so did Merle. He always found it more comfortable to sleep in the daytime; the night was always full of ghosts for him. His job involved the darkest levels of humanity: dead women, dead children, dead men. Andrea tried to carry it with him but he wouldn't burden her with the horror of it all, even if it killed him, and someday the whiskey just might. Before the kids came along, it was easier to dissociate himself from the impact of death and the sorrow of the families, but now it was so much harder. It was especially hard to face the reality of child homicide now, and that's what he'd be doing Monday morning; testifying in court about a particularly heinous crime.

/

That night Merle lay out his best suit for court the next day. Andrea had just finished putting the boys to bed and tidying up the house for the evening; another work week was about to begin.

"What time is court?" she asked.

"Ten."

"Merle, come to bed," she said softly, wrapping her arms around him from the back and laying a kiss between his shoulder blades.

He wished that he could give her more of what she needed, more of what she deserved, but he had trouble just staying afloat lately. He crawled into bed next to her, determined to give her 100% of his focus, and for once they made love without his mind becoming invaded by troubling thoughts.

Andrea had been the only woman he wanted for the last fifteen years, and he knew how lucky he was to have her. All through the infertility treatments and struggling to start a family, she was his very best friend and the light at the end of every exhausting day. With their two boys now, life was everything he'd ever wanted. They were financially comfortable and lived in a home that they loved, all of the pieces were in place, but it was still hard for Merle to find peace. The strange dichotomy of finally having the family he dreamed of verses the fact that being a father made his job so much harder was a hard pill to swallow. He hadn't seen it coming, but it was hard not to see his own sons in the faces of every dead child he encountered. A deeper level of outrage and sadness weighed on him when he had to deal with the tragedy of dead kids. Children died by accident in life: drownings, car accidents, cancer. What Merle had to witness, though, were the deaths that occurred with intention. Some adult would take it upon themselves to destroy a precious child, and Merle was the one left to take responsibility for attaining justice. Two factors kept him doing what he did, and the main one was unavoidable. That main reason was a truth he couldn't run from; he was damn good at what he did. Merle Dixon was a legend in the Atlanta PD, and the pressure to keep delivering on every case that came across his desk was a heavy burden.

His kid brother was new to homicide and Merle had demanded to be his partner right away. If another Dixon was going to be working homicide, he would be the best there was, and Merle was the only one to teach him what he needed to know. Daryl worked on the vice squad for years and figured that homicide would be a cakewalk since he saw dead bodies on the regular in his job already. Merle wanted to show him everything he knew, and he was sure Daryl was up for it too. He was younger and cocky, but he had great instincts, and that was 90% of the job. Daryl would need some refinement in dealing with families, handling the court aspect of the job and seeing the depths of human depravity, but he'd get there, and he would be able to replace Merle someday. Daryl was the other thing keeping him going; Merle wanted to leave behind someone who could do the job that he did. He couldn't leave his post unattended; he owed it to the dead.

 

 


	2. An Honor and a Curse

_**The Murder of Juno Ferguson** _

_**~ Chapter Two** _

_**{ An Honor and a Curse }** _

 

"Yo! Merle! Let's move out!"

Daryl was down at the end of the driveway shouting for him, and Merle vaguely wanted to knock his teeth in. Daryl was a lot to take first thing in the morning. Merle settled into the passenger seat, and Daryl began to discuss his latest sexual conquest.

"She was a fuckin' smoke show, brother."

"Uh huh," Merle groaned, blowing on the coffee Daryl had brought him to reduce it to drinking temperature.

"Don't wanna live vicariously through my womanizing anymore?"

"Who the hell said I ever did? I get all the lovin' I want, remember?"

"Yeah, but it's always the same woman."

"That's right, grasshopper. So she knows what I like, and I don't have to jump through a hundred hoops to get it," Merle winked.

"Yeah yeah."

Daryl's running around had always been a smokescreen for intimacy issues, Merle knew that, but he didn't say anything. The last thing his brother needed was to be chastised about his sex life. Merle would just gently suggest that relationships could be very fulfilling and they were worth the effort. They had been raised in a home where their parents never expressed real love toward each other or to their children; it made sense that Daryl didn't see the possibilities of love. Finding Andrea had been what changed Merle's mind, and he knew it would likely happen for Daryl too as soon as his heart settled on one particular woman. Merle suspected that Daryl had already found the woman he really wanted, but he needed to believe it could happen for him too. Daryl just didn't seem quite ready to admit was he was feeling for this woman, but hopefully, soon he would.

The drive continued into the heart of the city and Merle began to anticipate the morning to come; he didn't want to relive this specific case, but he had to do it, and he had to do a good job. Bearing witness to the horror was his sworn duty, both an honor and a curse.

"Do you want me to come to court with you this morning?" Daryl asked.

"You should be there," Merle nodded when their precinct came into view.

"Why?"

"It's a big part of the job...you need to see it cause one day soon it'll be you up there."

/

"You were the first detective on the scene on the morning of July 7th?"

"Yes."

"And what was the state of the child when you arrived on the scene?"

"He was laying on the bedroom floor alone. The EMTs had just finished looking him over, and the city cops had just called us in. They believed it looked suspicious and I agreed with them obviously."

"And where was the defendant?"

"His mother was sitting at the kitchen table smoking a cigarette."

"What did she say to you when you arrived?"

"She said that she had no idea what happened but that the victim was home sick from school for a few days. He actually hadn't been in school for weeks."

"Can you describe the physical appearance of the victim upon arrival?"

"He was unconscious; he was visibly underweight-"

"Objection. The detective cannot know what the child's weight should have been."

The defense was obligated to step in and object, but Merle still hated him for it. He was going to get this part of the story in, even if they reprimanded him. The boy who would never grow up needed him to tell the story.

"Your honor, I have a son the same age as the victim, and I can tell you that their ribs should not be protruding the way his were, and their hip bones should not be so easily visible. He was obviously underweight."

"Sustained."

"Please continue, Detective Dixon. What else can you describe of what you witnessed?"

"There was greenish/yellow bruising on his upper arms and face, indicating that they were older bruises. There was dried blood under his nose, and he was cold to the touch. He was obviously dead long before anyone was called."

"Objection."

The defense attorney was really pushing his buttons now.

"Your Honor, Detective Dixon may not be a coroner, but he encounters bodies on a daily basis. Surely, he can tell when a corpse is recently deceased or not. We aren't asking for his expert testimony regarding the body, only his personal impressions."

"Sustained, but please stick to just your observations, Detective."

"What was the reaction from the child's mother when she was informed that her son was dead in your own opinion?"

"She went from sitting with her cigarette to what appeared to me to be phony hysterics. She didn't ask once how he was as the EMTs were attending to him, she just smoked until they officially announced his death."

"So it appeared to be an act to you?"

"Yes. My son needed a single stitch on his forehead a year ago, and I didn't leave his side for a single second, neither did his mother...the way the defendant failed to react felt abnormal to me."

"Thank you, Detective. I'm finished with this witness, Your Honor."

/

"That was intense," Daryl shuddered when they reached the car again.

"That wasn't even one of the worst, but it's all part of it."

"So what actually happened to that kid?" Daryl asked, and Merle had been expecting it.

He sighed and lay his head back on the headrest for a moment and recalled a video clip of the victim from happier times, a Youtube video of a birthday party. Matthew Cline was once alive and happy, eating cake by the fistful and giggling uncontrollably.

"His mother started taking pills for pain after an accident, and she got hooked on them. Matthew's parents broke up, and his father disappeared. She started seeing a dealer, and gradually Matthew stopped mattering to her. The new dealer boyfriend made him sleep in the closet if he cried too much. They stopped caring if he ate. They eventually neglected and abused him to death. Matthew Cline was only three years old."

"Jesus...the same age as Mark."

"And that's the fact that I can't get out of my damn head at night."

"Sorry, man."

"It's fuckin' brutal to do this job, Daryl...but if we don't, then kids like Matthew could die without recourse. We need to be the ones who gather the evidence and put away the monsters who hurt people."

"This job is heavier than I thought," Daryl sighed.

"It's so fucking heavy it can drag you down, but it has to be done, and we need smart guys like you doing this ugly work."

"How do you deal with it?"

"I don't always deal with it the right way...but it helps to know that Matthew's mother is going to prison with any luck and she won't be having any more kids anytime soon. That prick of a dealer will be joining her if there's a God too."

"I can do this," Daryl stated like it was written in stone and Merle was so happy to hear the determination in his voice, he would need that in the years to come.

/

Back at the station, Merle was pouring over the latest cases and dividing them up with the other homicide detectives who had openings.

The TV was on in the staff room, and the very first trickle of information began to come in about a girl named Juno.

Merle had heard it before and fully expected it to be resolved within a matter of days. The girl was 21, she was last seen at a party and had been missing only about 48 hours. There was every reason to think that she was at a boyfriend's place or taking a road trip somewhere with her girlfriends. She would turn up, they so often did. Merle wasn't concerned, at first. Homicide was his game, and this girl was only missing. Juno Ferguson wasn't his girl yet, for all he knew she was still among the land of the living.

 


	3. Better Call in Merle

_ **The Murder of Juno Ferguson** _

_**~ Chapter Three** _

_**{ Better Call in Merle }** _

 

Abraham Ford and Shane Walsh arrived to take statements from the girl's family. The parents were likely going to be the least helpful people in the case, but that's where they started with any missing person case. If this young woman was to be found, they'd need to speak to her 'bestie,' her boyfriend, and anyone else who was close to her on a regular basis. Still, the conversation with the parents had to take place first, and the couple was desperate just as expected.

"So she was attending the party on Friday but the last time you spoke to her was Wednesday afternoon?" Shane asked, recording the interview and also taking notes.

Julia and Kendall Ferguson were a sweet and simple farming couple. They had sent their eldest daughter, Juno, off to university the year before after warning her of the evils of the big city at great length. They were from rural Georgia, at the furthest west edge of the state in Haralson County. Allowing her to move to the city had been hard for the couple but Juno was ambitious and the first in the family to get into university. They worried a lot but didn't want to hold her back.

"She had the afternoon off classes that day to go to a dentist appointment, and she called me about coming home for Easter break."

"So she sounded normal to you?"

"She was always easy going; she sounded perfectly normal...Jesus! I just said was.....Ken, I said was."

Juno's mother broke down for a moment, apologizing profusely and then insisting that she could continue.

"We need a list of people she was closest to. We'll question everyone she knows, and I'm sure it'll turn up some information," Abraham smiled, laying his hand on the woman's shoulder.

"You outta start with that prick, Gareth," Juno's father muttered.

Abe's ears perked up at the notion of a shitty ex-boyfriend or whoever this Gareth was; this could be the crack in the case they needed.

"Tell me more about this guy," Shane prompted.

"Last year, he was harassing her for months. She had to involve campus security after she caught that bastard takin' pictures of her through the window."

"Was this someone that your daughter dated, or a random student?"

"She said she never went out with him and he never even asked, he just stalked the poor girl till she was thinkin' of coming home. I wish she had come home now," Kendall replied with a heavy sigh.

"Do you find girls who go missing like this?" Julia asked, but it was more of a plea.

"Sometimes we do...but not always," Abe nodded. "The more information you can give us the better. We need to know names of friends to speak to as well, and we'll need pictures of her to notify the public."

/

They received all of the information they needed from her parents and assured them that they'd stay in touch. The Ferguson's were staying at a local hotel and refused to leave until their daughter was found. They had church friends in Atlanta if they needed to stay longer, but they still expected her to turn up at any minute.

Shane looked over the list of names and decided that the best friend would be the place to start.

"Maggie Greene. We'll start with her," Abe said, and Shane nodded his head.

They had a well-established routine for missing college girls, and it was almost always the 'bestie' that gave them the most information. They found Maggie Greene at her dorm in a common area and walked her back to her room to talk in private.

"We need to know everything. There really isn't time to play any games. She's been missing since Friday, and it's Tuesday now."

Shane lay all the cards on the table in hopes of avoiding nonsense. Nobody realized Juno was missing until Sunday night when she failed to show up for a study group. On Monday her friends discussed it and spent the day calling around themselves and looking for her. By Monday afternoon they had called the police and Juno's parents, and it was broadcast on the local news. It seemed like Juno had disappeared off the face of the earth along with her car.

"Juno wouldn't just take off, I know that much," Maggie began. "Something must have happened to her."

"Do you know who might want to hurt her? Juno's father mentioned a guy named Gareth?" Abe inquired.

"Maybe...but that was last year, and it seemed like he was over it."

"Was he ever threatening to her?"

"It was creepy; I will say that...but not directly threatening. He would just follow her, send her gifts like flowers and stuff. She contacted campus security when she caught him taking her picture through the window of her dorm room."

"That is pretty creepy stuff," Shane agreed. "But you say he hasn't bothered her since last year?"

"No. The higher-ups spoke to him and told him that if it didn't stop he'd be thrown out of school. He never bothered her again."

"Please tell us that you know all her social media passwords and all that stuff. The guys in IT can figure it out anyway, but it would save us time if you just help us out."

"You have her phone?" Maggie asked.

"Apparently it's at the office of her dorm. Someone turned it in after she forgot it at the party."

"All her passwords for social media are saved on her phone, in that keychain thing. You should be able to gain access pretty easy anyway. She always forgets her passwords, so she had them all saved on there," Maggie explained.

"Who was she dating?"

"Nobody as far as I know. She was going off and taking pictures a lot this year...she'd disappear for hours, so maybe I'm wrong, and there was someone."

"It seems like you suspect she was seeing someone."

"She seemed so happy lately, almost giddy a lot of the time. It felt like she was in love or something; like she was walking on a cloud. I asked her about it but she wouldn't give me anything, and nobody is closer to her than me."

/

With nothing else to go on, they took Juno's phone back to the station to begin the process of piecing together a young woman's social whereabouts. There was nothing out of the ordinary in her dorm; it was clear she never returned there after the party. Her car was still missing so they had no physical evidence to go on either. The only reason they had her phone was because she had left it behind at the party and someone had returned it to the resident assistant at her dorm.

/

Back at the station, Shane and Abe scrolled through her Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, and email, to paint a picture of her life.

"She was really into photography," Shane noted, "but not much else by the looks of it."

"No naughty DMs anywhere...no strange associations....and her bank account is untouched since Friday afternoon."

"That ain't good," Shane responded as he removed the lid from his coffee.

"It really isn't. I'm gonna go pick up that kid Gareth and bring him in," Abe huffed.

"You think he had something to do with this?"

"It don't really sound like it, but we haven't got anything else."

Abe stood up to put his coat back on and was promptly interrupted by the police chief.

"You two are off the case," he shrugged.

"Did she turn up?" Shane smiled.

Abe shook his head at the youthful optimism of his young partner. 'Off the case' rarely meant that their missing person was found and, honestly, Abe had suspected she was dead from the start.

"She turned up floating on the surface of Lake Sinclair," Chief Grimes informed them somberly.

"Better call in Merle," Abe sighed. "Her poor parents are gonna be torn right up."

 


	4. I'll Leave The Porch Light On

_ **The Murder of Juno Ferguson** _

_**~ Chapter Four** _

_**{ I'll Keep the Porch Light On }** _

 

Daryl got the call about Juno Ferguson that Tuesday as he was waiting for Merle to finish taking a statement regarding another case. He watched his older brother through the car windshield as he did his work and had to admit that he wanted to be more like him. He was still taking the info over the phone as he watched Merle and wondered how difficult the case would be to solve.

"Where did they find her?" he asked the officer who called to inform him.

"Lake Sinclair."

As the officer filled him in on all the details, Daryl couldn't help the thought that popped into his head then; at least the family would know now and not have to wait years, wondering if she was alive or dead. Of course, he wanted this girl to be alive, he wanted them all to live but having answers was better than years of wasted hope.

Merle shook the witness's hand and headed back to the car. They had collected everything they could on their current 'drug deal shooting' case fairly quickly. There were multiple witnesses and ballistics evidence tying the cousin of the victim right to the crime; it was a simple case. Merle got back in the car and pulled out his phone to call the D.A.

"We got everything ready for you to move ahead with your case," he said. "Yeah...I just got the final statement....you got it....ok, bye."

Daryl waited only a moment for him to put away his paperwork before laying the next case on his brother.

"They found that girl. She's dead."

"Juno Ferguson?" Merle asked.

"We gotta go meet Carol. She just got the body in a little over an hour ago and has a few ideas already," Daryl explained, pulling into traffic and lighting a cigarette.

"That girl don't waste any time," Merle smiled.

"Nope. That's why she's the best."

"No argument there. Where was the body found?"

"Lake Sinclair. Her car is at the bottom of the lake, so they're still getting it out and back to the lab."

"Couldn't be an accident?" Merle asked.

"Nah, she was shot, and there's signs of a struggle."

"Jesus," Merle sighed. "We have to tell her parents before we do anything else."

"Maybe I could go and see Carol, and you go and deal with that," Daryl suggested.

"Nope, you're coming. It won't take too long."

/

The Fergusons were staying at an Atlanta hotel, and luckily the press hadn't gotten a sniff of the news yet. Merle had to call Andrea to say he'd be late; she was used to these calls.

"You got it, babe. Be safe. I'll keep the porch light on."

It was a little ritual; she always said the same thing, just a promise that she'd always be there when he was done.

"Kiss the boys for me, honey."

"You know I will."

"Might be a late one tonight," he sighed.

"Do what you have to do, babe."

Merle considered himself a fortunate man, but he felt terrible for Andrea having to spend so many evenings alone. She had married him as a homicide cop, and she knew what she was getting into, but she often had to deal with the children alone. Andrea was a lawyer, currently taking a smaller caseload due to motherhood duties, so her life was already stressful, but she never complained. They were able to manage with her sister Amy working as their nanny, but life was always running at level 10 it seemed.

"I love you, Andrea."

Merle said I love you more than most husbands; he was always reminded of the fragility of life and felt a need to say it often.

"I love you too. Come wrap those big arms around me when you get home," she purred.

"You got it. See ya, honey."

All the way up to the hotel room, Daryl fidgeted and kept running his fingers through his hair, a nervous tick. Merle didn't like it either, but he was more accustomed to 'the talk.' They were about to tell two lovely people the worst news they would ever receive. They were probably in their hotel room at that very moment lying to themselves that Juno would turn up anytime and they would take her back to the family farm for Easter. They would give her hell for making them worry. She would just be off with a boyfriend they didn't know about...it would all be fine....they'd be holding her again in no time...Juno was fine...she had to be.

/

Kendall Ferguson opened the door to the hotel room when they knocked, and he could tell something was up right away, Daryl's face revealed everything. They introduced themselves as homicide detectives, and the jig was up as always, the introductions did half of the job for them, but they were obligated to give their names and rank before handing over this kind of news.

"Oh God," Julia whispered. "She's not dead...is she?"

"Please have a seat, Ma'am," Merle said in a warm and soothing voice that she obeyed without a thought.

"Is she dead?" Kendall demanded.

Merle had done this so many times, and it never got easy, but he was a professional, and he could handle it. The explosions of anger at "God damn cops who weren't keeping the fucking streets safe!" or the guilt of "Why didn't we stop him going out last night?" or the regret of "I didn't tell him I loved him when I saw him last." None of it was easy to hear, but he could handle it. Merle wasn't about to mess this man around when the facts were unavoidable.

"Yes, I'm afraid she is."

Both Kendall and Julia crumbled, and Daryl took a step back and watched Merle at his finest. Daryl had seen death but never saw the family's reaction to it this way. Maybe it sounded cold, but many of the people he saw dead in vice appeared to be seeking death through their very lifestyle. Juno Ferguson wanted to live.

"Catch this bastard," Kendall finally growled as he held his sobbing wife in his arms. "You catch the fucking bastard!"

"We will," Daryl said, and Merle immediately turned to scowl at him.

You never told a family you'd catch the guilty party; you'd have to live with it forever if you couldn't keep that promise.

"We will do everything we can, Mr. Ferguson," Merle corrected.

"How?" Julia began. "How did she die? What happened to my baby?"

"We're going to the medical examiner's office right after we leave here, and we'll be able to tell you more after we speak with our colleague, but we do suspect a homicide."

"Who would kill a young woman like that?" Kendall asked of the universe. "My little girl wouldn't harm a fly...who could do such a thing?"

"I'm so sorry for your loss," Merle expressed with every ounce of honesty, he felt their pain. "I won't rest until I find answers, I promise you that."

/

Back in the car Merle couldn't help but let Daryl have it a little.

"That's day one shit, Daryl! Don't tell a family that it's all in the bag like that."

"We'll find him, Merle, you always do!"

"Someday I might not, and then I'll have to answer for that," Merle sighed.

"I won't say it again....but you know you're gonna find the guy."

"I hope so," Merle sighed. "I fuckin' hope so, Daryl."

"Let's go see Carol, she'll have answers, and I'll start going over the stuff from Shane and Abe."

"Alright."

Merle loved that his brother's faith was so strong, it made him feel good. Merle didn't have any reason to think they wouldn't solve the case but it was always a fear he carried with him. Someday he'd fail to solve a murder, and the ghost would keep him up with his whiskey until it drove him mad. He wondered if Juno would be the ghost who pushed him over the edge, or if he'd be able to lay her spirit to rest.

 


	5. The Case

_ **The Murder of Juno Ferguson** _

_**~ Chapter Five** _

_**{ 'The Case' }** _

 

Merle was now on the case, and that meant that everything else would fade a little into the background until he knew who had taken this girl from her family. They stopped by the station to pick up the file Abe, and Shane had started, and Merle dissolved into it immediately. He sat next to Daryl on their way to see one of the best medical examiners in all of Georgia. As they drove, he poured over pictures of the girl who would become his new obsession; those eyes would stay with him.

Juno had been 5 foot 6 with brown eyes and had hair like dark chocolate. She had a sweet round face and full lips; she was a gorgeous young woman. Merle looked over the list of interview subjects again and knew that Gareth was their only real lead at that point.

They pulled up outside the building that housed the medical examiner's office as Daryl straightened his tie in the rearview and ran his finger's through his hair again.

"What's up with you?" Merle asked.

"Nothing."

"You nervous about seeing the body?"

"Nah, it ain't my favorite part of the job or anything, but it's more Carol that makes me nervous."

"Why?"

"She's so fucking smart. The last time we were in there I ended up asking a bunch of dumbass rookie questions, and now I'm pretty sure she thinks I'm retarded."

"She ain't like that, don't worry about it."

"If you say so...she's way outta my league anyway."

"What do you care?" Merle laughed. "You never sleep with a woman two times running anyway."

"Yeah...I guess so."

"Awww! Got a crush, little brother?"

"Fuck you," Daryl grumbled with a slight grin.

Merle could always find his brother's soft spots. He already knew about the crush Daryl had on Carol and figured it was about time to inform Daryl that it wasn't a secret to him.

/

"Whoever did this was very disorganized. I doubt they ever did anything like this before," Carol began.

"Let's hear it," Merle pressed.

Carol uncovered the body to reveal a young woman with white skin, not just Caucasian, white. She had a ghostly grey tone to her flesh along with the white, and her lips were a bloodless mauve shade of death. The girl had been an absolute stunner, that much was obvious. Even in death, her beauty was apparent. Juno had been a lively young woman with her entire life ahead of her, and now she was but a lifeless shell of the girl she'd been less than a week before.

"The scene was a mess. She was shot through the cheek there," Carol said, pointing to a small bullet entry point below her right eye. "The shot didn't kill her though."

"How do you know that?" Daryl asked.

"Science," Carol winked. "I can't say why, but the killer didn't shoot her again. Instead, they chose to strangle her."

Carol leaned down to pull gently on the dead girls lower eyelid.

"There is petechial hemorrhaging in the eyes and bruising on the neck but mainly at the back where the killer's fingers dug into her skin."

"So he was facing her," Merle asked.

"I believe so. He was likely on top of her, pushing his palms down on her throat and digging his fingers in at the back of her neck."

"Rape kit?" Merle asked as he made notes and drank in all of her words.

"She was in the water since late Friday night or early Saturday morning at my best guess so it may be hard to determine and any swabs I take won't be in until probably late tomorrow. She was found fully dressed, and I just can't see any real evidence of that here."

"Why don't you think the killer has done this before?" Daryl asked.

He loved the way her mind worked; fast and accurate, and he just wanted to hear more.

"The cops called just before you got here and the divers said the windows of the car were open. Leaving the windows open is a rookie move. It looks like the killer hoped the car would sink faster, but it also means the body will surface even if it's belted in and she wasn't. As a body decomposes, a gas is produced that causes it to rise to the surface. If you're driving a car into a lake to conceal a crime then why let the body float up so fast? It was just a screwup. Also, she was shot and then strangled, there was a lot of skin under her fingernails, so she fought back hard....it just seems like he didn't have a clue. I don't think it was planned."

"Can you get DNA on the fingernail scrapings?" Merle asked.

"I think so, epithelial skin cells present, but it will take some time cause the lab is backlogged as per usual," Carol sighed.

Daryl nodded his head, got a little lost in her blue eyes, and fumbled through a compliment on her intelligence before Merle led him out of the room with a friendly thank you and goodbye to Carol.

/

"She thinks I have shit for brains," Daryl sighed.

"I told you, Daryl, she ain't like that. Carol is a sweetheart."

"So what do you think of this case?" Daryl asked, deciding to let go of his failure to speak like a human being to Carol and focus on the case.

"We need to talk to that Gareth character first thing in the morning. I'm gonna do some paperwork and Carol will complete the rest of the autopsy tonight, so we'll have more info then."

"You going home now?"

"I guess so."

There wasn't much more that could be done until morning.

"So no ideas?" Daryl pressed.

"This was about rage; it doesn't appear to be a sexual thing. Gareth wanted Juno, but he hadn't bothered her in almost a whole year...just doesn't fit. This was personal; I think the killer snapped."

"I'm fuckin' wrecked," Daryl groaned.

At a certain point, the coffee just didn't help anymore, and a homicide cop needed real sleep.

"I'm going to call the Ferguson's, and then I'm packing it in."

"Not telling them tomorrow?" Daryl asked.

"Nah...I need to get this over with."

/

Merle was sat at his computer at home an hour and a half later with a bottle of Jameson's and a few half-melted ice cubes still floating in the amber elixir. He knew he should be in bed with Andrea, but he was already planning his attack on the Juno Ferguson case, sifting through details to determine his course of action. Merle had so much to teach Daryl, and he felt extra pressure to be on point. Someday Daryl would be the one to take over for him, and he had to be ready.

Telling Juno's father how his little angel had met with her death was something he'd never forget, he didn't forget any of these conversations. He only spoke to Kendall, Julia was beside herself with grief. Kendall asked how much she suffered and if she had been raped as well, these questions were typical. Merle said it was likely swift and that they had no evidence of sexual assault at that point. He didn't honestly know how much she suffered, only Juno knew that, but he saw it as the only kindness he could offer the poor man, and it wasn't relevant anyway. The fact was that Juno's life was over, nothing would change that or make it easier to take.

He heard the bathroom light turn on and he knew that Andrea was up to use the bathroom. She came in behind him a moment later and lay one of those sweet kisses on his neck as always, and he knew he had to pack it in for the night.

"Come," she whispered, and so he followed her back to their bed without a second thought.

She enveloped him in her arms then, kissed him soft and slow and told him he was the best husband around. He didn't really agree with that statement, but he also didn't feel that she was lying at all. Her perspective was just different than his, and he needed to hear it, maybe she could sense that.

He could feel himself drifting off within the next twenty minutes as her slow breath on the back of his neck eased him off to dreamland. Andrea was his home, next to her was the place where the ghosts couldn't run riot through his mind at will. They tried and sometimes it was a struggle, but she always won over his heart and his soul in the end.

The next day he would dive into the case of Juno Ferguson. He would become her avenger, and he wouldn't stop. Each case became 'the case,' and he knew that soon he'd know every last thing there was to know about her, the girl floating in Lake Sinclair. Together, he and Daryl would figure it out, but Merle had a strong inkling that this wouldn't be an easy one.

 


	6. I loved her in my own way

_ **The Murder of Juno Ferguson** _

_**~ Chapter Six** _

**_{ I loved her in my own way }_ **

 

Merle opened his eyes at 6 am with only one thing on his mind, and it wasn't Juno Ferguson. He rolled over to see the blonde waves of Andrea's hair spilled all over the pillow and decided to wake her up with a treat. He'd get to work by 7, but first, he needed to hear her moan; he needed it desperately. Andrea woke up slowly as she felt him squirming under the comforter and knew that it was going to be a sweet morning.

"What's all this?" she purred as if she didn't know.

"Shhhh...."

Merle pulled her black panties down her legs and growled as he urged her legs apart. It had been over a week, and he wanted to make up for the lost time. He couldn't ever forget how lucky he was to have her; he had to appreciate that he was blessed. So many others lost their loved ones, and his beautiful wife and children were still living and well.

She felt his kiss press to the flesh between her legs and surrendered to it. The sun poured in through the curtains, and the boys were still sleeping soundly, she was going to drink it in. Andrea pulled the comforter off to uncover his head and saw his strong hands clinging to her outer thighs with a death grip. He was so good when he was able to relax and have sex, on the nights when his mind wasn't being tortured but mostly in the mornings. Merle Dixon would leave her boneless and weak with very little effort, and he was the only man to ever have that kind of power over her.

Licking, teasing, moaning, the man used everything he had to please her. Andrea admired her husband greatly; he was well respected and brilliant. She loved him: mind, body, and soul.

Soon the sensation of his warm tongue and his fingers inside of her stroking the smooth inner walls was too much, and she began to beg.

"Oh yeah...don't stop, baby...please take me there."

She felt him smile against her lips and then he brought it all home for her with ease. He flicked his tongue gently over her most sensitive cluster of nerves, and she grabbed for his head, rolling herself into his mouth and calling out his name.

Merle crawled over her then, refusing the blowjob she wanted to give him and just took her right then and there with her core still pulsating with release.

"Oh my God, Merle! Oh my God! Oh yes!"

The boys could sleep through anything, and that was a blessing for them. Early morning was often the time when they got down to business.

/

After a quick breakfast with the boys and tossing them both around on the couch for a bit, Merle had to go. They were both laughing themselves silly when he left, and it was one of those sweet mornings when everything was right. Merle knew just who he was and just what he wanted. Most nights he was up too late and drinking himself silly but right in that moment, he was Merle Dixon, happy husband, and super dad.

Merle picked up Daryl then, and they headed off to have a word with Gareth. They discussed the tactics they would use and knew exactly how to approach it as they pulled him out of class to have a word. They were provided with an office for the discussion by Gareth's professor and sat him down in a chair as they both walked slow circles around him like sharks.

"Do you know why we would want to speak to you?" Merle asked in a friendly voice.

Merle could play it very intimidating or very understanding; both characters were well within his capabilities.

"Cause I was bothering her?" Gareth answered.

"By all accounts, you scared the shit out of that girl," Daryl added in a far less friendly tone.

"It wasn't like that. I was never trying to scare her."

Merle let Daryl take this one; he was actually great at interviews with suspects. Maybe he needed work talking to families in more sensitive situations, but this is where he shined. Daryl had been talking to perps on vice for years and pulled no punches.

"It was just a mistake," Gareth assured them.

"You took pictures of this girl through the windows of her dorm! You didn't think she was going to fear for her safety? Or do you get off on scaring women?"

"No! I only went to talk to her that night...and as usual, I didn't have the balls. Juno was like an angel to me or something. I'm over her now, but at the time she was everything to me, and I got obsessed with her...I admit that."

"So what's with the pictures?" Daryl pressed, bending down to speak directly into his ear. "Did you take those pictures home to jerk off?"

"No! I'm not like that!"

"Don't get snotty with me, son!" Daryl growled. "You were caught by a resident of her dorm taking pictures of her in her nighty through the damn window! That's creepy shit!"

Gareth looked ashamed and desperate to be believed, Daryl was getting very bad vibes.

"She just looked so beautiful...but I knew I couldn't have her. I just wanted to remember how she looked that night."

"Did she tease you a lot like that?" Merle asked in a man-to-man, friendly way.

"I don't think she really knew I existed before I started following her," Gareth sighed. "I wasn't trying to scare her, I swear to God. I just thought if I bumped into her and could start a conversation that maybe she would like me."

"You gotta be kidding," Daryl huffed.

Hardass was the character he was playing, and he was good at it.

"I mean it...I know it's kinda pathetic, but she was just so pretty and smart and sweet. I was crazy about her. I just wanted to bump into her to talk, and then I'd chicken out most of the time and then try again...I'm still ashamed that I scared her. I loved her in my own way for a long time. I still can't believe I'll never see her around campus again."

Merle wasn't so sure about Gareth as a suspect now, but they couldn't exclude him either.

"I don't know anything, or I swear I would tell you. I kept my distance after what happened, so I don't know who she was dating or anything. I know she was best friends with Maggie Greene, but that's pretty much it."

"I want you to call me if you hear anything," Merle said, handing him a business card. "And we may be back to speak to you again."

"OK," Gareth answered and after a short pause, he added. "Juno didn't want me, and I was a little butthurt for a while, but I could never hurt her...not in a hundred years."

Gareth broke down then and asked when the funeral would be and if he could attend it."

"I wouldn't recommend it, Juno's father is not your biggest fan," Merle warned.

"I get it...I won't go."

Daryl still had Gareth firmly at the top of his suspect list, but they didn't have anything else on him and couldn't make an arrest. They needed to keep searching, to keep asking questions.

/

"We need to talk to everyone on the list today," Merle sighed.

"We will. It'll take all damn day but we will."

"You did fuckin' great in there," Merle smiled.

"Thanks, man."

"You got it. Let's go."

Daryl loved the praise of his older brother, ever since childhood he felt a desire to impress him. Now that they were partners, he had even more of an opportunity to show Merle what he was all about and what he could do. Together, Daryl knew they'd solve the case. It was their first major case together, the first case that held a deeper mystery, and he was excited to tackle it together. The Dixons were a force to be reckoned with, Daryl had no doubts that they would find Juno's killer and bring them to justice.

 


	7. The Silver Fox

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOW POSTING ON SUNDAYS AND THURSDAYS.

**The Murder of Juno Ferguson**

**~ Chapter Seven**

**{ The Silver Fox }**

 

The day was filled with interviews, tearing apart Juno's dorm room a little more intently, and another discussion with her parents. The Ferguson's turned up at the University where Merle and Daryl were conducting the days' investigation. Julia was hoping to collect some of her personal things to take home to her surviving sister and their extended family as Kendall discussed her funeral with the dean of the university. Students at the school were planning a memorial assembly for Juno in the coming week.

Merle comforted Julia the best he could with a sincere hug and kind words of support and somehow it seemed to help her. Merle's warm smile was so genuine that it made those around him feel more at ease. Daryl watched the interaction and admired his brother so much in that moment. He wondered if he had this ability in him, he had a lot to live up to.

"It doesn't feel real," Julia said, her face resting on Merle's chest for a beat. "I can't believe that I'll never touch her again."

"I wish there was something more I could do," Merle said softly.

"You're doing the very best thing. Juno deserves justice...and I don't want this to happen to anyone else."

Daryl felt frozen to the spot. He couldn't personally identify with the depth of pain from losing a child, but he could see that it was killing this poor woman. Nothing for the Ferguson's would ever be the same.

"We'll do everything we can," he assured her.

"I know you will, we're praying for you both...it must be a terrible thing to do this work," she said, and Merle had never heard this type of comment before.

No victim's family ever noted that it must be difficult for him and he appreciated that she thought of that. When the talk with the Ferguson's was over Merle turned Juno's room upside down, convinced that the uniformed officers had missed something, as Daryl began the rest of the interviews.

Merle took pictures down off the wall to check the frames and then found some plastic bins under her bed that had been overlooked. He did come across a few things that hadn't been recorded but he didn't know if they meant anything. There were a few Polaroids of her in nothing but a smile and Merle tried to figure out where they were taken and if they were recent. By all accounts, Juno wasn't seeing anyone the whole time she was in university but these pictures were for someone's viewing pleasure. He couldn't tell where they were taken, but certainly not in her dorm room. Her brown eyes were pulling the person behind the camera to her with a lust-filled gaze and her dark brown hair flowed over her bare shoulders, this girl had been a delicate and alluring creature.

Merle couldn't find anything definite, though, and was becoming frustrated with it all. He sighed heavily and looked up at the ceiling as if begging the Lord for answers, and that's when he saw it.

A pill bottle had been dropped inside the light cover in her bedroom, and Merle's first thought was drugs. There were no drugs in the pill bottle, but there was a little cotton and a small flash drive.

Why was this hidden so well?

What was this sweet farm girl hiding?

/

"You had study group with her every week?" Daryl began.

"Yes."

The girl was a nerdy, quiet type and Daryl knew he'd have to loosen her up a little to get the information he wanted, thankfully that was his gift.

"Nice t-shirt," he winked. "You really into D&D? That's so cool!"

"Since I was 10, I love D&D!" she smiled.

Enid, the girl he was trying to interview about a dead girl, went on for about 5 minutes about her recent quests and her love of all things D&D but it was worth it. Her room was filled with figurines, old records, and objects from other eras, Daryl figured she was a hipster type of nerd and found it interesting.

Daryl nodded, smiled, and edged a little closer to the shy little nerdy girl until she was putty in his hands.

"I really need someone to give me something I can work with on this case. Please tell me you're that person, Enid."

"Juno had a thing for older men; I used to tease her about it sometimes."

"How much older are we talkin', like 30?"

"Older than that. She would say that men who had grey hair and were into cultural things like theatre and traveling were better than college guys who just wanted to get drunk."

"But do you think she had someone specific in mind?" Daryl pressed.

"She hinted about a guy she referred to as a 'silver fox,' but she wouldn't say any more than that."

"When was this?"

"It started last spring, and she would comment on attractive older guys ever since. She wasn't seeing anyone at school...but maybe she did have a boyfriend who was older outside of school," she mused.

"Juno was pretty. Did you know of anyone else who might be interested?"

"I saw Fred Straub trying to talk to her a week before she died, no idea why, though."

"Who is Fred Straub?" Daryl asked, leaning in to make her feel that he was hanging on her every word.

He was extremely interested, of course, but it was very important that she know how interested so that she wouldn't stop talking.

"I don't know him that well to be honest. He's really popular, and I'm...not."

Daryl looked her dead in the eye and poured on all of his charm, it was a cheap tactic, but it worked.

"Is there anything else at all that you're keepin' from me? Anything at all?"

"No, that's all I know. I swear."

"Thank you, Enid. I want to leave you my card with my cell number and my partner's. Is that OK?"

The girl giggled, and Daryl had to admit he liked this part. It stroked his ego and was also a good way of getting all of the information he could from young women.

"It's OK," she smiled as she took the card from his hand.

"Anytime, day or night," he smiled as he got up to leave. "You hear anything, you call me or my partner, OK?"

"I will. I promise."

/

Merle was on the phone with Eugene after he realized that the flash drive was encrypted and just prayed he'd be able to get in. If she went to such lengths to hide it, then it had to contain something of importance. Merle knew this case would be constructed of circumstantial evidence and with any luck, a confession.

"I can't give you any promises. It depends on what type of encryption was used."

"You deal with all that, buddy," Merle sighed. "Just do the best you can."

"It's probably AES."

"Oh yeah?"

Merle didn't know the first thing about tech; he could just barely operate his phone, so a lengthy discussion about it was pointless. Still, Eugene continued.

"AES stands for Advanced Encryption Standard and is a specification standard by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for the security of data. AES is a widely recognized and adapted cryptographic module used in the U.S., Canada and worldwide by military, government, financial institutions, and organizations all around the world as the standard for encrypting and decrypting of data. There are different degrees of AES hardware encryption, for example, 128-bit, 192-bit, and 256-bit, with each key size providing an increased level of protection and-"

"Dude, you're talkin' way out of my pay grade," Merle laughed.

"My apologies."

"No, it's good that you know this stuff, that's why I need you."

Eugene smiled then on the other end of the phone, he was often seeking approval and Merle was happy to offer it. Eugene Porter was the best tech man around and if anyone could crack that flash drive, it was him.

/

"She was a good girl with little or nothing for secrets," Daryl sighed. "Her profs loved her, none of the girls had a gripe about her, she wasn't screwing anyone....nothing!"

Daryl had been conducting interviews around the campus all day long and turned up very little. Enid was the only one who saw her with Fred Straub, and he couldn't talk to him because he was out of town for a family funeral. He had left town on Monday and wouldn't be back until Friday so Daryl planned to catch up with him then.

"Maybe she did have someone," Merle noted.

"A silver fox perhaps?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Merle asked.

"It might be nothing; I don't even know yet. I heard that she had a little thing for older men."

"Well, I found some nudes in her dorm, and they were taken for someone's benefit."

"Any real clues you can pull from them?"

"They weren't taken on campus, but no idea where yet."

Merle handed over the Polaroids, and Daryl held one up close to his eyes to see better.

"There's a body of water out the window," he said.

"What?"

"Look through the window over her shoulder; this was taken near the water somewhere."

Merle grinned at his kid brother; he was right about him, he had the gift.

 


	8. You Do Something To Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NOW POSTING EVERY THURSDAY AND SUNDAY:)

_ **The Murder of Juno Ferguson** _

_**~ Chapter Eight** _

_**{ You Do Something To Me }** _

 

The workday ended with paperwork and Merle was eager to get home to the wife and kids so Daryl said he'd finish up. Merle would be making calls and working on the case into the evening as always, but he wanted to at least do it from home. Daryl sat at his desk filing his reports and checking his text messages randomly, hoping to hear from a woman named Katy. The sad thing was that he knew Katy wasn't the one, he just didn't want to be alone. Katy was simply the last woman he had pulled into his bed, nothing more.

Carol was single, and she was friendly enough toward him, but he couldn't seem to ask her out, she was out of his league. Daryl never had a problem asking any woman out, but Carol was different; for one thing, he'd have to see her frequently and feel like a dope if she turned him down.

As if by fate, she called his desk phone and asked if Merle was still around.

"I don't have his cell, and he wasn't answering his work phone," she explained.

"He'll be on the way home now...can I help?"

"I got the toxicology back on the Ferguson case. Can I fax it to you?"

"Sure."

He gave her the fax number and then decided to delve a little deeper into his work friendship with her. Perhaps he could ask casually as a friend, then if she said no he could still save face.

"What are you up to tonight?" he asked sheepishly.

"Nothing much, I was thinking of grabbing a drink at The Loose End, but I don't know."

Everyone in his precinct drank at The Loose End; he had often been sat around a table with Merle, Carol and a bunch of other cops or medical examiners. More than once he had stared at her face as she regaled them all with one of her autopsy stories, never with any personal details of the deceased but always entertaining. There was always a touch of gallows humor in their work, nothing tasteless or disrespectful, just a touch of the morbidly absurd to bring levity to the day.

"Just go right ahead and tell me no but...did you maybe wanna meet me there?"

"Really?" she asked and he could tell that he had stunned her.

"Yeah. If you want to."

"OK."

"Great! When?" he asked, and he knew he was coming across as much too eager.

"Half an hour?"

"You got it. See you there," he grinned.

/

Merle had just gotten out to the parkade when Eugene called him back to the office, and he grumbled until he heard what it was about. Eugene had already cracked the flash drive, and it was loaded with files.

"You are the man, my friend!" Merle praised as he took the flash drive and signed the paperwork to take it home.

"Looks like a journal," Eugene noted. "There are music files and jpegs as well, though. You may just uncover myriad information from that little, now decrypted, piece of hardware."

"I owe you a beer for this, Eugene. Thanks."

"Don't mention it," Eugene nodded. "But...if you did actually mean it, I would come for a drink some time."

"You got it."

Eugene's face lit up, and Merle smacked him on the back like one of the boys before turning to leave.

/

He was home just in time to take over the care of the kids from Amy that night. She was in the bathroom with the boys as they splashed around in the tub together.

"They're just about ready for bed," she smiled, grabbing her purse and coat to get home to her boyfriend.

"You're a doll," he sighed.

"Long day?"

"They're all long lately."

Merle walked into the bathroom, nearly slipped on the water that had ended up on the floor, and sat down on the toilet seat to supervise.

"Andrea said she'll be home in an hour. I left homemade pizza for you in the microwave."

"When is that idiot gonna propose to you?" he winked.

Amy had been with Spencer for three years, and everyone was waiting for a big announcement.

"Nothing yet," she shrugged.

"Might have to have a word with him," Merle joked.

"I just might let you do that. Night, Merle," she grinned.

"Goodnight. Be careful out there, OK? You got your pepper spray?"

"Yep."

"Good girl."

Merle insisted on Amy and Andrea taking personal safety courses and armed them both with pepper spray and hand weapons small enough to carry in their purses. He worried for the women close to him; he knew about the evil that existed in the world around them.

"Daddy! Blow bubbles!" Brady begged so Merle grabbed the bottle of bubbles from the shelf behind him and began their little ritual.

Amy had put colored tablets in the tub for the kids, and the bath water was deep blue like a child's painting of the ocean. Rubber ducks, plastic fish, and letter-shaped bath sponges floated carelessly through the blue water and bubbles. It was a perfect moment.

Both boys screamed and tried to pop the bubbles before the other. It was nothing but laughter and pure, innocent joy. Merle's boys could still believe that everything was safe, that the world was designed just for their happiness, and that nothing could ever go wrong. As long as Merle kept their minds free of worry and fear, he felt that he was doing his job as a father.

/

Merle tucked the boys into bed after toast with jam, and a glass of milk and Andrea walked in just as he was finished with dad duties for the day. He wasn't always home for this part, but he tried to be as often as possible.

With the day at an end, they curled up in bed and kissed like kids, but she was too beat for anything else.

"Do you mind if I-"

"Go ahead, honey. Get some rest tonight, though. Promise me," she yawned.

"I will. I love you."

Andrea knew that he wanted to spend some time in his office and that he'd be having a few whiskeys and she didn't fight him on it. She knew that he needed it.

"I love you too, baby. Don't stay up too late."

/

Daryl ordered a glass of white wine for Carol and a beer for himself as he waited at a table for two in the back of the bar. He ran his fingers through his hair and almost wished he wasn't putting himself through the agony. It was a lot easier to take out women who were just pretty, he really admired Carol, and that made it harder. He cared deeply what she thought of him.

She arrived a few minutes later looking tired but gorgeous in a pair of khakis and a white t-shirt.

"White wine, right?" he asked with a friendly smile.

"Yes, thank you."

Carol sat down across from him, and he felt giddy to be alone with her, but he couldn't think of anything clever to say. Normally he could ramble casually, but nothing came easily with Carol.

"Long day?" he asked.

"Very," she sighed. "I could use a day off in the worst way, but we're short as usual.

"You're the best M.E. in the city, they'll never let you have time off," he grinned.

"Are you sweet-talking me, Dixon?" she laughed.

"Maybe."

"What an honor to be on your list of women," she winked.

"How do you mean?" he asked.

"It's no secret that you get around a little," she chuckled.

"Oh...yeah, I guess I do a little."

He could feel that she was turned off by the idea of him being a player and he felt shame about it. Carol was probably looking for someone a lot more mature than him, someone she could take seriously.

"I didn't mean anything by it, Daryl. I was just kidding," she said, reaching out to touch his hand.

"I swear I'm not a total douchebag, Carol."

"I never said you were. Who knows, maybe I'm jealous that you actually have a dating life...it's been ages for me," she chuckled. "Not even one date since my divorce two years ago."

"That's surprising. How come?"

"I work a lot, and some men are put off by what I do for a living," she shrugged. "I think they find it macabre."

"I admire what you do," he said.

"Thanks."

They spent the next hour talking shop, and he managed to make her laugh a few times. He felt like they connected and he felt like it was a good start.

/

Merle was dying to know what the flash drive contained, and so he poured himself a Jameson's to get started. He stopped to kiss the boy's foreheads and then sat down in his old leather chair in his office to uncover a dead young woman's private life.

The first files he saw were MP3s, so he clicked on the top one to see what kids were listening to these days, it wasn't what he expected. The song started slowly, and he recognized it almost immediately. The song was mournful and left him speechless under the circumstances.

 

**You do something to me**

**Something deep inside**

**I'm hanging on the wire**

**For a love I'll never find**

 

**You do something wonderful**

**Then chase it all away**

**Mixing my emotions**

**That throws me back again**

 

Merle sighed long and slow and took a sip of the whiskey as he opened the first document.

 

_**April 14th/05** _

_**I never felt anything like this before, and I can't talk to anyone about it. It only makes sense to write it**_ _**all out here or else I'll explode. It sucks to feel this good and not be able to tell anyone, even Maggie. Nobody would understand, sometimes even I don't. I can't speak his name to anyone, but it's always on the tip of my tongue.**_

_**The way he touches me, I swear to God I burn alive for him whenever we're apart. It took me forever to convince him that I knew what I wanted. After his separation, I get it that he was afraid to start over. I get it that he thinks I'm too young, but now that we are together I know he can feel it too. Who says we can't make this work?** _

 

_**May 1st/05** _

_**We met at the Park Hotel last night, and I can still feel his hands all over my skin. I told him how much I loved Don Quixote by the Atlanta Ballet the other**_ _**night and he said that his wife never liked that sort of thing. Maybe they just weren't a good match. I know his kid would never accept me, but I can't help the way I love him. I just can't help it. My father would be furious, and my mother would think she raised a fool, but nobody makes me feel the way he does.**_

 

Merle almost growled to himself. Use a damn name, woman! However she had come to be murdered, this seemed to be the most likely cause. Juno had fallen for the wrong man. Soon, it was getting too late to keep going, and he had to pack it in, but he'd be up early to continue. He wanted to read it all in one night, but it was several files long and spanned almost an entire year. In the morning he'd split it up with a co-worker to get through it faster.

As he drifted off that night, he couldn't help imagining her undressing for an older man behind the lens of a Polaroid camera. He wondered what it was that drew her to this man, how the relationship worked, and how it had gotten her into the kind of trouble that led to death and floating lifelessly on the surface of a lake.

 

 

 


	9. "Damn it, Juno!"

_ **The Murder of Juno Ferguson** _

_**~ Chapter Nine** _

_**{ "Damn it, Juno!" }** _

  


"Tara! My tasty little honey bunny girl!" Merle teased.

He needed a favor from his favorite co-worker in homicide, but she was a very busy woman, so he turned up the sweet talk.

"Merle," she whined in a playful, pouty tone.

"I need a favor."

"I know you do! You only pull out the 'honey bunny' crap when you need a favor."

"Please, Tara...me and Andrea will babysit next time you take vacation," he grinned.

"Don't offer that, Denise's brother is getting married next month so I will take you up on it."

"And I'll actually do it!" he insisted. "The boys love it when your girl comes over. Madeline is always welcome with us."

"OK, Merle! You got me," she smiled. "What do you need?"

"I just need you to take half of the files from a flash drive and lemme know if there's anything I can use on the Ferguson case. I can take the other half, but I'm a slow reader, so it's taking me forever."

"What are the files?" she asked.

"The victim's journal by the looks of it, maybe a few video or audio files too."

"Give me a quick rundown of the case, and I'll take care of it this morning for you."

"You know I adore you, right?"

"I know," she laughed. "And I must adore you too, cause I wouldn't do this for anyone else."

/

Daryl didn't have a chance to tell Merle about Carol; he had come into work after Merle that morning. There wasn't too much to tell, but he had been alone with Carol for a whole evening, and they parted on what he believed were great terms. He'd tell Merle about it later, though, Daryl was still trying to prove himself to his brother and wanted to show him his head was in the game and not on women all day.

Daryl loved working with Merle, he really did want to get better at homicide investigation and do some good in the world, but Merle had a big shadow to stand in. He didn't think he'd ever quite measure up but tried hard not to turn it into a pissing contest; his brother was his best friend after all.

"Got the call from the lab," Daryl said when they met up that morning in the office.

The call had come in as Merle was grabbing a cup of coffee and it was a call they were eagerly awaiting.

"Thank God, maybe they have something for us."

"The car isn't too helpful by the sounds of it, but we have to treat everything like something at this point," Daryl sighed.

The guy at the lab hadn't sounded too excited when he gave him the quick rundown over the phone, and at the lab, it was about the same.

/

"The victim's blood was still saturated into the fabric of the seats, and the bullet casing was embedded in the roof of the car."

"No ballistics then?" Daryl asked.

"It was a .22, but that's all we can get," the lab tech shrugged. "We have nothing to match it against, that's your department. Find us a gun, and we'll confirm it or rule it out."

"No other blood present?" Merle asked.

"Nope."

"Nothing else at all?" Daryl asked.

"The skin cells under the nails haven't been processed yet. DNA always takes longer, and we have tons of cases at the moment."

"Damn it," Merle huffed.

"The guy was an amateur by the looks of it," the tech noted. "Very sloppy."

This was the kind of conversation that could only take place amongst people who dealt with the aftermath of violent death for a living.

"Yep," Merle agreed. "This punk made a mess of it. He took her out rough, and I'd really like to see someone pay for it."

"We'll do what we can, and we'll call if we find anything else," the tech offered.

"Thanks, man."

Daryl was just about to tell Merle all about his date with Carol when Tara called from the office.

"What you got for me, honey?" Merle asked.

"I got your girl on video with a grey-haired man, but we won't get an id on the guy's face."

"Why not?" Merle asked. "Poor quality video or something?"

"You'll see why," she answered. "There's a few little clues in the writing too. Can you come back to the office?"

"You got it."

/

Daryl drove them back to headquarters and mentioned to Merle what Enid had told him about Juno liking older men and Merle filled him in on Juno's journal; all of that was relevant now. That was the hell of investigating murder cases, trying to figure out if you were chasing your tale or missing something crucial. They met up in Tara's office where she loaded up the video segment on the computer.

"See?"

Juno Ferguson was in a dimly lit room, the video was taken by her on her iPhone, and the man in question had his face buried between her thighs.

  
_**"Mmmm....oh yeah....that's right, baby..."** _

  
Daryl watched as the nude twenty-one-year-old grabbed a handful of grey hair and rolled her hips up toward his willing mouth. Her back arched and her dark hair was spilled all over her breasts as she reached orgasm loudly. A set of older male hands gripped her open thighs, and it was clear that the man was delighted in his work, the older man was moaning into her flesh as she came.

"The Silver Fox..." Daryl whispered.

"That's him," Merle agreed.

Getting turned on by the sex tape of a dead girl was the last thing Daryl wanted, so he tried hard to think of the setting of the video and gather clues from that, just like with the nudes taken near some unknown body of water. It looked to him like a cheap motel, and then he recognized a few things as they came into view briefly.

"It's the Midtown Motel just off the highway," Daryl said.

"How the hell do you know that?" Merle asked.

"That ugly scratchy bedspread and the 70s carpeting...I'd know that shithole anywhere," Daryl shuddered.

Tara and Merle both looked at him, completely baffled.

"I've taken more than one woman there, OK?"

"Jesus! That place isn't even good enough for casual sex, Daryl!" Tara chastised.

"I know, I know. But look at these two! I wasn't the only one obviously."

Merle rolled his eyes and returned to the video.

"I'll talk to whoever runs the place, maybe they remember the guy she came in with...maybe we can get a sketch made up," Merle noted.

The video was only a minute, and a half long and the lighting was terrible. They couldn't see any of the man's face, and she didn't moan out his name. This was apparently the man she mentioned in her journal, and now they had him on camera, but it was almost useless. Merle couldn't exactly show it around to see if anyone recognized the top of his head, not unless he had a damn good reason.

"This girl is trying to drive me crazy from beyond the grave!" Merle groaned.

"What's up?" Tara asked.

"All of the pieces are right in front of me but she never uses his name in her journal, and now I can't see the bastard's face."

"You think he's the one who killed her?"

"He might be, but we got nothing. What else did you find? You said there were some more clues?"

Tara pulled up a journal entry and explained what she found to Merle and Daryl.

"The older boyfriend has an impressive job where he couldn't let anyone know about her."

"Anything else?" Daryl pressed.

"One more thing. They had a huge fight in the fall. He told her he was separated from his wife in the beginning, but he's still very much married. Juno lost her mind about it and didn't speak to him for weeks until he begged her to take him back."

"And she doesn't use his name once?" Merle groaned.

"She even wrote in here that she won't speak or write his name to protect him in case anyone reads her journal. Juno wanted to protect this guy, even when he broke her heart. Looks like she was madly in love," Tara shrugged.

"Damn it, Juno!" Merle grumbled.

The secret relationship had lasted for almost a full year, a long time for an illicit love affair, and yet nobody knew who this man was, and Juno wasn't giving them any clues either.

 


	10. A Moment of Sweetness

_ **The Murder of Juno Ferguson** _

_**~ Chapter Ten** _

_**{ A Moment of Sweetness }** _

 

The case was frustrating as all hell and Merle sat that evening at the dinner table trying to be present with his family, but his mind was consumed. He and Daryl would need to get a solid lead soon, or the trail would grow cold.

"Daddy?" Brady began as Merle started to cut up a pork chop for Mark.

"What's up, kid?"

"Can me and Mark have a puppy?"

Merle grinned, the boys had been asking about a puppy for a while. More accurately, Brady was asking on behalf of them both. The look in his young son's eyes triggered something inside him then. What could be more pure than a puppy? What could compare to the happiness a puppy would bring to a little boy? Merle needed something just like this, a few hours of family time to clear his mind.

"You know what? Yeah, you can have a puppy, son."

"Uh...honey?" Andrea interrupted. "We're both kinda busy lately with work."

"Awwww, Mom!" Brady whined. "Pleeeeeeaaase."

"Come on, Mama," Merle winked. "The boys need a puppy, right? Me and Daryl had a dog when we were little."

If he hurried up, he could get the kids down to the Humane Society of Atlanta and still be home in time to fuck the Misses and do some more paperwork.

"I'm not cleaning up the dog mess in the backyard," she announced. "I want help training this new addition too."

"Anything you want, baby," Merle vowed. "Hurry up and eat, boys! You're coming with daddy to go pick a mutt!"

The boy screamed with delight, and Merle felt high on their happiness. He had been thinking of adopting them a pet anyway, and there was no time like the present, he needed a sweet moment with his boys.

/

"Which one do you like?" Merle asked the boys as they sat in a cluster of small dogs all seeking attention.

"All of them!"

"Just one."

They eventually settled on a Great Pyrenees/golden retriever pup with so much energy Merle was exhausted just watching it chasing the boys all over the facility. Merle paid the adoption fees and stopped by the local pet shop to pick up everything the dog needed. Brady and Mark were in heaven and even though it was clearly an impulse buy Merle didn't regret it one bit. They'd get the dog trained and take it camping in the summer; it was going to be great.

"I love you, daddy!" Brady squealed and hugged him tightly.

"Love you too, kid."

"Me too! Me too, dada!" Mark added.

"You too, little guy. Love you both like crazy."

/

Back at home, Andrea gave him a 'What the hell are you thinking?' look that only a wife could, but he didn't mind. It took them forever to get the boys wound down after the excitement but eventually, they conked out with a new pup chewing on a piece of rawhide at the foot of Brady's bed.

"You're a madman," Andrea smiled.

"I needed this," Merle sighed.

"You OK?"

"I will be, this is just a bad case...it's taking a lot out of me."

"They all do, honey."

"I know. Come have a shower with me, and then I got to get my ass back to my office."

"Do you ever sleep?" she sighed.

"Honey-"

"I know, I know. Come on then," she winked.

Merle pressed her against the wall of the shower the second that he stepped in and he took out all of his frustrations on her body.

"Damn, baby...that's so good!" she moaned as he pulled her leg up around his hip and teased her with the smooth head of his cock.

"Want that?"

"Of course I do, gimme," she grinned.

Merle dropped to his knees then instead and pulled her pussy to his mouth. Andrea ran her fingers through his hair, and he had a very brief flashback of Juno and the grey-haired man. He pushed the thought away and went back to work, pulling her into the burning pit of lust and desire.

"Give it up, girl...come on now."

He grabbed her by both ass cheeks and moved his mouth back and forth in an effort to tip the scales, and she had to catch the tub railing to stay standing as he plunged two of his fingers inside her.

"Oh my God...you...oh my God!"

Merle felt happy, masculine and dominant like he was really in control of something. He could make his boys happy, and he could please his woman. Maybe he didn't know who the hell killed Juno, but he could make his woman come undone and moan his name.

He finished up by fucking her from behind like he was being paid for the privilege. Merle felt complete that evening. Everything made sense. He was where he was needed, and he was doing everything right.

/

Merle cuddled with Andrea until she fell asleep. It cut into his work time but it was worth it, she needed him, and he was afraid of suffering the homicide cop curse of losing his wife and family. This didn't happen with every cop in homicide of course, but divorce and marriage strife were a lot more common in his department.

He sat down with his Jameson's and ice and as soon as he pulled up Juno's journal from the flash drive again his cell phone rang.

The call came up as an unknown number and Merle hated those, they were usually telemarketers or something. He just wanted to get back to the journal, so he answered abruptly, planning to hang up within seconds.

"Yeah?"

"Is this Detective Dixon?"

It was a male voice, Merle would guess he was under thirty, but that's all he could guess. What he didn't know was why he was getting a call like this so late.

"I might be, who is this?"

"I can't tell you that. I need to be careful what I say."

The caller had something to say, but he would hang up if he thought he was being trapped, so Merle played it easy.

"It's all good, son...just start with what you can tell me."

"It's about that girl. Juno."

"Can I ask how you got my cell number?"

"No."

"Alright. What do you have to tell me about Juno?"

"Are you tracing this call?"

The caller sounded terrified.

"I'm at home, I ain't got that kind of technology here. My cell just says unknown number. You got me over a barrel here, kid."

"You swear?"

"Yeah, I swear."

"I can't tell you everything, or he'll know it was me who talked...but I can give you a few hints. I saw her parents crying on the news; it's keeping me up at nights. I can't fuckin' take it anymore."

"Just breathe, son. Tell me what you can, and I'll do my best with it."

"She was seeing someone; he works at the University."

"You can't just give me the name?" Merle almost pleaded.

"I don't think so; it'll give too much away."

"An older man though, right?"

"Right. You know about this?"

"I know he was older than her, but I need a name. Her parents are suffering. They need to know who killed their daughter."

Merle was trying to persuade him, to ease him into it.

"You'll figure it out. When you find the man she was sleeping with it will all fall into place. Also, look into the photography club...I just-"

The young man's voice cut off then, and Merle had no idea why.

"What's wrong? You OK?"

The conversation turned from Merle to someone else who just entered the room and Merle tried to hear all of the words.

 

**"Hey, do you work tomorrow?"**

**"Nah, man. Just a sec."**

**"Who you talking to?"**

**"Nobody."**

**"Well, get off the phone and come here then."**

**"Yeah, just a minute."**

**"And remember to bring me that new release pressing next time you work."**

**"I will."**

**"It's 180g vinyl, and I'm dying to hear it."**

**"Alright, just a second."**

 

"I gotta go...I'll call back when I can."

The caller hung up, and Merle growled under his breath. He still had no idea who the hell it was, and the only clue he had was that he and his buddy played vinyl albums, some hint that was. He pulled up her class schedule and looked over the list of names, 5 of her professors were middle-aged men, and he wondered how many of them looked like the silver fox.

 


	11. Everyone Liked Her

_ **The Murder of Juno Ferguson** _

_**~ Chapter Eleven** _

_**{ "Everyone Liked Her" }** _

 

Merle had a hard time sleeping as usual, and he was also up before anyone else in the house. He needed to get the ball rolling on Juno's former professors; he needed to know which of these creeps had been involved with her. The world didn't make sense to Merle when it came to a girl like Juno and a man who was most likely older than her own father. What was in it for her?

What was she searching for?

He left a little love note for Andrea, kissed the boy's foreheads, took the puppy out to pee and then left to pick up Daryl.

He pulled up at Daryl's apartment half an hour earlier than usual and got out to knock on the door.

"What the hell are you here for so early," Daryl groaned, still in his boxers and scratching his ass.

"This is how you look half an hour before I pick your ass up?"

"Yeah! What of it?" Daryl argued. "Hey! I didn't tell you yet. I took Carol out for a drink!"

"When?" Merle asked.

"Uh, Wednesday night after you left."

"A proper date?"

"Well, not really. She was going for a drink, and I tagged along, but I think it went OK."

"Good for you," Merle smiled. "Hope it works out for you, Carol's a hell of a catch."

"Don't I know it. She makes me think of actually settling down or something."

Daryl walked into the bedroom, and Merle realized that it was the first time his brother had ever mentioned something like that. Daryl spent most of his time teasing Merle for being a claimed man. It was a good sign that he was ready for something as serious as homicide and Carol would be the perfect partner for him with a job like his.

A few minutes later, Daryl emerged from his bedroom dressed and ready to go.

"So what are you doing here so early?" Daryl asked again.

"Couldn't sleep last night, got a weird anonymous call on the Juno case."

"Yeah? What did they say?"

Daryl perked right up at the hint of a lead.

"He said the silver fox is one of her professors and that we need to look into the photography club."

"That's it?"

"It's better than nothing, Daryl. I think he would have said more, but someone turned up, so he ended the call. He said he'd call back though so we may get more."

"Anything else from the journal?"

"Not really. Just her mooning over the silver fox, lovey-dovey songs and that kind of thing...a few more nudes but nothing helpful."

"We need to go to the university anyway so we can check out her profs too," Daryl yawned as he pulled his pre-tied tie over his head, Merle was still tying his ties for him.

"What do we have at the university again?" Merle asked.

The lack of sleep had dulled his senses and memory.

"That kid...uh...Fred. The one that shy girl mentioned is back from out of town."

"What's his significance again?"

"He talked to her the week before she died. That's how weak our fuckin' leads are at this point," Daryl sighed.

"We could have the silver fox in our grasp today, it's not all a bust," Merle reminded him.

"That'll be who did it, I bet."

"Probably, that's how it normally goes."

/

They made it to the university bright and early and asked at the admin office for Fred Straub's schedule to track him down, pictures of her professors and information about the photography club. Merle expected to be there at least a few hours.

He flipped through the photos of all of her male professors, and they all looked to be about medium build, grey-haired except for one who's hair was too dark to be the man in the photo.

"We gotta identify this prick from the top of his head," Merle groaned. "This job has me doin' the dumbest shit sometimes."

"Let's start with this Fred guy and rule him out."

"Deal. You handle this, and I'll run backup, I'm wrecked."

"Stop sleeping with a bottle then, brother...you might wanna grab a mint or something," Daryl chuckled.

"Fuck! Really?" Merle winced.

"It's a little noticeable."

Merle grabbed some gum from a vending machine, and they went to Fred's first class to have a chat. Merle knocked on the door and requested a word with the clean-cut young man with dark hair and green eyes.

They took him to an empty common area where benches surrounded a statue of a university founder. The boy was average height, and meek looking but he didn't look overly nervous to be speaking with the police either.

"We just want to ask you a few questions about Juno Ferguson," Daryl began as Merle sat back wondering if he still smelled like whiskey.

"Sure. It's horrible, what happened to her," the boy said. "The campus just feels so different now."

There was an effeminate quality to his soft voice, and Daryl's gaydar went off immediately. Maybe he was wrong, but it was just an impulse guess.

"We heard that you were speaking to her the week before she went missing," Daryl continued.

"Probably, we talked a lot. She was the best photographer in the club, so I asked her questions all the time. She was even going to create a calendar for the university to sell to raise money for the photography club trip this year."

"Sounds like you liked her quite a bit."

"I did," Fred continued, his eyes beginning to well up with tears. "She was very special."

Merle figured they should wrap it up; it was a waste of time. He wanted to land the silver fox before lunchtime.

"Do you date much?" Merle asked.

"Huh?" the boy responded.

"Dating," Merle repeated. "Do you date very much?"

"I...actually, I'm in a relationship," he stuttered.

"So nothing romantic between you and Juno?" Merle asked.

"No, Sir...I don't date women."

"Where were you the night that Juno went missing?" Merle asked since he was standing there anyway.

"I was with my boyfriend all night; he lives off campus. We went to a movie, and then I stayed the night."

"Can I get his number just to verify?" Daryl asked.

"Yeah."

Fred wrote down the name and number and handed it to Daryl, but they both knew it would check out.

"If you think of anything at all, please call us, OK?" Daryl concluded.

"I will. None of the female students feel safe anymore; I hope you catch this person soon."

"We'll do our best," Merle assured him.

/

They returned to a table in an eating area to look over the pictures of her professors and decided to start with a man called Steven Adelardo, her gender and politics teacher.

He wasn't helpful, his alibi was confirmed by photos of himself at the opera in Gainesville and then at a party afterward. He did, however, lead them to another teacher she was abnormally close to. Dean Marbelle, who taught philosophy, was often seen with Juno and other faculty members had suspicions according to Adelardo.

Merle was getting aggravated by the case more and more by the minute, and he just wanted a break on it. He could still see Juno's eyes filled with bliss and release as she looked into the lens of her iPhone, the poor girl just wanted to live like anyone else.

Merle had a funny feeling about Dean Marbelle the moment he met him. Dean gave them both attitude about interrupting his class and then continued with the attitude as they began to question him. Merle decided to set him straight right off the hop; he was in no mood for bullshit.

"A young woman from this school was found brutally murdered, and we were just told that she spent an unusual amount of time with you. You'll answer our questions here or down at the station; it's up to you, Mr. Marbelle," Merle growled.

"What do you want to know?" Dean sighed.

"First, we'd like to know your whereabouts last Friday evening," Daryl stated.

"I was at home."

"Alone."

"No. I had my children last weekend."

"Can someone confirm this?"

"My ex-wife. I can give you her number."

Dean Marbelle was handed a notebook and pen by Daryl and jotted down a number. Merle called immediately to confirm the information; he wasn't messing around anymore, he wanted answers.

"What was your association with Juno Ferguson? And please just tell us the truth," Daryl said after the call was made, he still wanted the whole story on their relationship.

Merle was trying to decide if his hair looked like the hair from the video; it did, but so did most hair belonging to grey-haired university professors. It's like they had a standard haircut or something.

"We were close. Juno was intelligent and witty. You'd never guess she was raised on a farm in the middle of nowhere. If you're asking if I fucked her, then the answer is no."

"Who was fucking her then?" Merle asked.

He may as well be blunt, the Ferguson's wanted answers yesterday, and the trail was already getting chilly.

"You know what she looked like, right? Probably some young stud," Dean chuckled. "That girl could have anyone she wanted at the snap of her finger, but from what I heard she wasn't seeing anyone. I'm sad that you're talking to me, though," he frowned.

"Why?"

"Cause it means you probably don't have much to go on," he answered.

Merle wanted to tell him to fuck off but he was right, it was hardly a hot case. Daryl and Merle turned the page for the next professor, and Daryl was a little taken aback.

"Bradly Straub."

"Wait, is he the gay kid's dad?" Merle asked.

"That's very PC of you," Daryl rolled his eyes.

"Hey, I got no problem with the gays. Just couldn't remember his name, that's all," Merle laughed.

Brad Straub's hair looked similar to the hair in the video too, but that was hardly conclusive.

"We'd like to ask you about Juno Ferguson," Daryl began.

He just wanted to gauge his reaction to her name, and there was nothing unusual about it. Professor Straub had no class at the time, so he invited them into his lecture hall.

"Absolutely," he said, before leaning against his desk to speak to them. "Anything I can do to help."

"Are you related to Fred Straub?" Merle asked right off the hop.

"Yes," Brad smiled. "That's my boy. Have you met him?"

"Yes. We just spoke to him."

"He's devastated by this; everyone is really. Juno was well-liked here."

"Where were you on the Friday evening that she went missing?" Daryl asked.

"There was a function for the university that night, I was there until probably midnight, and then I took an Uber home with the misses."

"You wouldn't happen to have the receipt for that trip would you?" Merle asked.

"I might have it on my phone, just a sec."

The professor was cool as a cucumber and pulled up an electronic receipt on his banking app for the Uber at 11:53 pm.

Merle didn't feel like they were getting anywhere and it was making him a little crazy.

"Do you want my wife's cell number to confirm the rest of my evening?"

"Sure, thanks," Daryl nodded.

Professor Straub handed over the number, and Daryl handed it to Merle. Daryl wasn't so crazy about making those kinds of calls.

"If you hear anything around the school, can you give us a call, please?" Merle said, offering him a business card.

"Definitely. Her poor parents must be beside themselves. It makes you want to hug your kids a little tighter, doesn't it?" he said in Daryl's general direction.

"Got no kids," Daryl nodded.

"I have kids, and yes, it does," Merle agreed. "Hard to believe anyone would hurt someone like her."

"There couldn't be any reason for it, Juno never hurt a living soul," the professor sighed.

"If you think of anything or hear anything, please, call us right away," Daryl said, handing over a card.

Merle decided to ask him about the photography club since he was there.

"She was in the photography club right?"

"Yes, she was big into taking pictures. You never saw her without a camera, she'd bring it to all her classes," he almost chuckled, but it swiftly changed to a somber expression again.

"Did she have any kind of conflict with anyone, perhaps in the club?" Merle asked.

He was desperate for something, anything to progress the case.

"I don't know anything like that. Fred was in the club with her, and he never mentioned anything to me. I don't know what to tell you; everyone liked her from what I know. Maybe ask Dean about that, he'd know if there was anything."

"Why would he know?" Daryl asked.

"He's the advisor of the club."

Merle wondered why Dean had failed to mention that he wasn't only her professor but the advisor of a club that meant so much to her.

The last professor they were supposed to speak to was off with the stomach flu, and to Merle, he didn't appear to have the right shape of head as the man between Juno's thighs.

"It ain't him, his head shape is all wrong," he muttered to Daryl.

Daryl looked at the still photo from the video and agreed.

"This ain't the silver fox...so maybe your caller was full of shit. We get a hundred bullshit calls a week on a case like this," Daryl said, trying to ease his brother back from the ledge.

"So we just wasted a whole morning questioning these guys for nothing?"

"Maybe, but we gotta keep going right?"

"Yep," Merle sighed.

Back in the car, for the first time ever, Merle just wanted to go home. He wasn't catching any breaks, and the whole case looked hopeless. Juno Ferguson was a beautiful young woman who everyone liked, but someone had shot her in the face and then strangled her to death when the bullet didn't do the job. Someone knew something. Someone had blood on their hands, and Merle had to find them out. He had to solve the mystery of that beautiful girl with the brown eyes that were haunting him. Until her killer was found, Juno was his girl; her ghost was his to avenge.

 


	12. I Already Said Too Much

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs are:  
> Everything I Own by Bread  
> &  
> I'm on Fire For You, Baby by April Wine

_ **The Murder of Juno Ferguson** _

_**~ Chapter Twelve** _

_**{ I already said too much }** _

 

That evening at the station, Daryl was running through all the evidence at his desk and thinking of Carol. It was almost impossible not to think of her when he had a free moment, he was actually making progress with her, and he was just a little giddy.

Merle did some digging on Dean Marbelle and discovered that he was very recently divorced and according to his Facebook profile he was trying to relive his younger days with an active nightlife.

"Why don't you take the weekend off and just work on this from home?" Daryl suggested.

Lately, Merle was looking wrecked, and Daryl didn't want to see him drive himself over the edge. He took every single case on like it was the most important case of them all, and it wore on him.

"I don't know about that," Merle protested. "We're starting to get somewhere now, I can feel it."

"Me and Tara can stay on this, and you can chip away at it from home. We'll keep in touch," Daryl pushed.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. It hasn't even been a week; we're doing OK."

Merle seemed to accept the idea, and Daryl smiled to himself, he wanted to make his brother's load a little lighter. Merle had a family to think of.

"This guy doesn't sit right with me," Merle sighed as he grabbed his stuff to head out.

"Who?"

"Dean Marbelle."

"Yeah, he's a creep," Daryl answered listlessly.

"You daydreaming?" Merle chuckled when he noticed the far-off look in Daryl's eyes.

"A little...just thinking about Carol."

"I'm about to go see her down in the lobby to grab the DNA paperwork on the fingernail scrapings. Maybe I should ask her about your little date," Merle teased.

"Don't! Please, don't say anything," Daryl pleaded.

"Relax, Daryl. I'm not gonna embarrass you....much."

Merle was excited to have some DNA on the case, the physical evidence was sparse, and they'd need something when they finally zeroed in on a suspect.

"Can you take this to the evidence locker? I'm done with it now," Merle yawned and handed over the flash drive to Daryl.

"No problem," Daryl said taking the drive from Merle's hand.

They would need the flash drive for trial once they finally made an arrest. Merle took the elevator down to the lobby of the building where Carol arranged to meet him and drop off the paperwork for the DNA profile. She could have faxed it over, but she often dropped things off with him or one of the other homicide cops just to chat since it was on her way home.

"Pulling a late one?" Carol asked.

"Just on my way out the door now," he smiled. "Gonna take the weekend off with the family."

"That's nice," Carol smiled. "They got a full DNA profile for you to run through the database and maybe get a hit. You getting closer to an arrest?"

"I think so...I hope so."

"It's a nasty case," Carol sighed. "So many of them are."

"So, I hear you had a drink with my goof of a brother," Merle nudged.

"Did you now? It was just a drink, calm down."

"No wedding bells?" Merle chuckled.

"I don't think so."

"No spark?"

Merle could sense there was an issue for her but didn't know quite what it was.

"Daryl's great...it's just hard to take him seriously when he's with a new woman every other day, I'm not looking to be another notch on his belt," she sighed. "After Ed, I need something serious."

Merle wanted to tell her that she was all wrong about Daryl but she wasn't all wrong. He knew that Daryl had real feelings for Carol but what could he say to convince her in a lobby at 8 pm? Everyone knew she'd been through the ringer with her ex-husband and it did make sense that she would be more cautious.

"I think he's looking to turn over a new leaf," Merle said softly.

"I'm sorry, I'm not trying to bad mouth him or anything. Daryl is a hell of a cop, and I really respect him. The thing is...I do like him, so he could hurt me, and I'm not sure that's good for me right now."

"I get it, Carol. It's OK...just maybe see how it goes and think about it?" he suggested gently.

"You got it," she smiled. "Good luck on this case and get your ass home to the misses."

"Yes, ma'am," he grinned.

Merle felt bad about Carol's feelings for Daryl, he knew that his brother really liked her but what could he say? Carol wasn't wrong.

/

He got home in time to receive a little of Andrea's wrath over the new puppy.

"He pissed on the floor three times since I got home," she whimpered. "Why did you do this to me, Merle?"

"I'm sorry, babe. I got the weekend off, and I'll work on paper training him. I promise."

"The whole weekend?

"Yeah. Tara and Daryl are taking the case for the weekend, and I'm just staying in touch in case anything comes up."

Merle could see the excitement in his family's eyes; the boys were already listing all the things they wanted to do, and Merle couldn't help wishing he could have every weekend off.

It was already a little late so Merle and Andrea put the boys to bed with promises of all the fun they'd have the next day. Merle just wanted her alone for a couple of hours to unwind and clear his head. Maybe if he could start over with a clean slate, he'd be able to see the Juno case with new eyes. There were just no clear leads, and Juno had gone well out of her way to keep her personal life a secret.

"Did you ever date an older man?" he asked Andrea as they curled up in bed after a hot shower together.

"You're older than me," she winked.

"Yeah, but I mean way older," he clarified.

"No. Why?"

"Just something to do with this case."

He normally didn't talk to her about cases, and he had to be careful not to go into too much detail. The age thing just didn't make sense to him though, Juno could have had anyone.

"Why would a beautiful young woman go for a man old enough to be her father?" he mused.

"Power, intelligence, maturity, prestige...and sometimes older men are pretty hot," she winked. "I always liked Sean Connery."

"Oh yeah? Well, Miss Moneypenny...we'll just have to see if I can measure up to 007."

"I know you can," she purred, pulling him over her.

Merle lay her out and took his sweet time to show her that no matter how busy he got, she was his #1 priority. He held her gently, kissed from one shoulder to the other across her chest and whispered how much he loved her.

Making love to her was always as good as the first time, he never got complacent about what they had. Merle Dixon knew damn well how lost he'd be without her and the boys. As it was, he was on tenuous ground with his drinking at times. Without his family, he'd be deep in the Bell Jar already.

/

He still tiptoed out to his office after she drifted off just for a quick look over the case before bed, he wasn't much of a sleeper anyway.

His Jameson's on ice sat before him on his old oak desk, and he went over his notes from the day's interviews. He wished it was obvious which of her professors was the silver fox, but it just wasn't. His cell phone rang then and made him jump out of his skin, and somehow he knew who it was.

"Hello?"

"Hey."

The man from the night before, just as expected.

"So why don't you just tell me who the hell she was sleeping with cause I don't fuckin' know," Merle almost chuckled.

"Really?"

"Yeah, really," Merle repeated.

"I didn't want to just tell you...I'm the only one who knows about this so if you bring him in it's going to be obvious that I told."

"Well, what do you want to do? We couldn't pinpoint which of her profs she was with."

"Juno was sleeping with Brad Straub...that's all I can say. I already said too much just telling you that."

"Did he kill her?" Merle asked outright.

"I already said too much."

The phone went dead, and Merle was frustrated, but at least he had something. He finally had the silver fox.

Merle couldn't rest after the call; he had a piece of the truth, but not enough. He opened the files on his computer of her journal and played one of the MP3 files, Juno had been into some odd music for such a young woman.

 

_**Is there someone you know,** _

_**you're loving them so,** _

_**but taking them all for granted?** _

_**You may lose them one day** _

_**Someone takes them away** _

_**And they don't hear the words you long to say** _

 

_**I would give anything I own** _

_**Give up my life, my heart, my home** _

_**I would give everything I own** _

_**Just to have you back again** _

_**Just to touch you once again** _

 

 

Her journals were purposely vague, and it drove Merle crazy. When he fell asleep in his office chair, drunk and annoyed, she came to him in a dream that only made it worse.

He knew right away that he was in a dream and the investigator in him looked for answers, even if it was only his own subconscious.

Merle was on the campus at the University of Atlanta and walking toward Juno's dorm, down a dark hallway. He knocked on her door, and she answered with a smile.

"You gonna tell me anything useful or just tease me some more?" he asked.

That's how it felt, even though he knew it was only in his head. Merle couldn't help feeling like it was Juno herself testing him, pushing him to find the answers but not giving an inch to help.

"It's all there, detective. You'll figure it out."

"Why Brad Straub anyway? Was he good to you?"

Juno walked over to her couch and lay down to look up at the ceiling. She was wearing a U of A sweater and jeans, just a pretty young woman with rosy cheeks and that dark chocolate hair.

"I loved him more than he loved me...but that's OK."

"No, it ain't OK," Merle argued.

"Maybe you're right, but he's the only one I wanted, and I don't know why. He just made me feel alive."

"Tell me who did this to you, honey," he begged.

"I don't want to rob you of finding the answers. You know that's your favorite part," she grinned.

"You got me there. I will solve it though, right?"

"You always do."

The room went black then, and she disappeared from his sight. Out of nowhere, the scene changed to the shore of Lake Sinclair, and he could see her body floating about 50 feet away.

A full moon shined off the surface of the water, and he sighed at the calm silence surrounding him. Far away he could hear a song playing on a car radio, an old April Wine tune from the 70s. It was one of the songs from her disc drive, and he imagined Juno making love to Brad Straub as it played.

 

_**This empty space I've held so long** _

_**You come around, and now I'm warm** _

_**I thought that I was havin' fun** _

_**And now I see the way it's done** _

_**I thought we'd led a life before** _

_**And who we were, well I'm not sure** _

_**But one thing I know is right** _

_**I loved you then** _

_**I'm gonna love you tonight** _

_**I'm on fire for you baby** _

_**Fire for you woman, all night** _

_**I'm on fire for you baby** _

_**Fire for you woman, all night** _

 

 

Merle sighed and knew that the case wouldn't ease up in his mind, even on a weekend. Juno was still dead, and he was still the one who had to solve it. Those were the cold hard facts, and there was no escaping it.

 


	13. A Love Letter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting Daily now:)  
> Thanks for reading.  
> xoxox

_**The Murder of Juno Ferguson** _

_**~ Chapter Thirteen** _

_**{ A Love Letter }** _

 

Merle was up later than usual the next morning and woke up to the sound of Brady and Mark 'training' the new puppy in the hallway.

"Sit! Stay! No, Charlie!" Brady laughed when the dog clearly wasn't listening.

"No Charlie! No!" Mark giggled along.

Merle smiled and rolled over to check the time. He could smell fresh coffee and bacon, and everything was right for a moment.

The phone rang in his hand, and he groaned as he answered, he didn't recognize the number and that was rarely a good sign.

"Merle Dixon here."

"Good morning, Detective."

It was Julia Ferguson, so Merle sat up and cleared his throat. He remembered giving her his cell number; he gave it to all the victim's families he worked with.

"Hello, Mrs. Ferguson. I'm sorry, I just woke up. How can I help?"

"I hate to call you so early, but I didn't have your partner's number."

"It's fine," he assured her.

"I just wanted to tell you that Kendall found something a little strange in Juno's room when he was back there last night picking up more clothing for us. It's a love letter to someone but...I think this person was married," she whispered.

Merle didn't like to speak ill of the dead, but this would all come out in court once they made an arrest. He couldn't see her death not being tied to Brad Straub; it just made too much sense.

"Ma'am, the last thing I want to do is upset you, but we do have reason to believe that Juno was seeing an older man who was married."

"Who?"

"I'm afraid I can't say specifically who at the moment but I will tell you everything as soon as I can. Do you trust me?" he asked.

"Yes...you will tell me though, right?"

"Of course, and I will try to be as discreet as I can, but I do believe that this could be tied to her murder, so it's very likely her love life will be discussed in court. You and Mr. Ferguson should be prepared to hear potentially upsetting information in the pursuit of justice," he informed her.

Julia needed to know that it could get personal, it was only fair to prepare her.

"I understand...and thank you."

"And you're still in the city?"

"Yes...we're staying with friends in Atlanta right now. Our younger daughter is with us as well. Home doesn't feel right now without Juno."

"Text me the address, and I can have my brother pick up the letter. It could help us in the investigation."

"Of course," she said.

"Thank you for calling. Please, don't hesitate to call if there's anything else I can do or even just to talk."

"I never thought this would happen to me...I always assumed I'd die first. That's the way it's supposed to be."

Merle could hardly bear to hear the agony in her voice...the pain was so palpable.

"When I die, they'll bury me in the ground...but Juno is buried in my heart until then. As long as I live she'll be with me...every single moment, even if I can't see her or touch her, Juno is still with me."

For a split second, Merle wanted to break down and scream at her for twisting the knife. The responsibility was immense and crippling, and he felt the burden of it pulling him down only moments after feeling such peace. The puppy, the boys, playing and laughing, the coffee and bacon...and then the absolute agony and grief.

"I'm so sorry, Mrs. Ferguson...I can only imagine the grief you're feeling. I have two sons of my own and...it must be awful."

"I'm so sorry to bring down your Saturday morning," she sighed. "Thank you for everything you're doing for us."

"It's my job and my honor. My brother will be by this morning."

"Thank you, Detective. Goodbye."

Merle wasn't even out of bed, and he had to make another phone call before he could go an devour his bacon and eggs.

"Hello?"

"Yeah, Daryl. I got the silver fox; he was right in front of us."

"How?"

"That damned anon caller. He says it's Brad Straub."

"Me and Tara will handle it."

"You sure?"

"Yep. I need to get more practice without you holding my hand, and Tara's a great interrogator."

"True. Call me if you need anything and also can you pick something up if I send you an address. Juno's mom has a letter she wrote to Brad, one that she apparently never sent."

"No problem. Go spend some time with my nephews, and I'll call you back."

"Thanks, brother."

"No problem."

/

Daryl called up Tara and asked her to meet him at the station after he picked up the letter. Tara was one of his favorite people to work with, he had watched her through the two-way mirrors more than once and admired her technique with suspects.

"We got the man from the video!" he began without even a hello.

"Who is it?" she asked.

Somehow she was right on the same page, and he loved that, he didn't need to waste any time explaining himself to her.

"Brad Straub from the university, I was sure it was some guy named Dean but whatever. You wanna help me pick him up for questioning?"

"You got it."

"I just need to pick something up from the victim's mother, and I'll meet you at the station. We can go ruin his Saturday together," he grinned on the other end of the phone.

"Be still my heart, that's my favorite thing to do!"

Tara was a blast, if he had to work on such an ugly case then at least it could be with his brother and women as brilliant and fun as Carol and Tara.

Daryl drove to the home of the Ferguson's friends and knocked at the door.

Kendall answered and moved out of the way to let him in.

"My Juno was a good girl," he said softly. "She wasn't this kind of person."

Daryl normally had Merle around to help field this kind of awkward conversation, but he was on his own now. In vice, he didn't require the kind of tact he did in homicide.

"Nothing she did in life changes the fact that a horrible thing happened to her. Your daughter deserves justice no matter who she was seeing," Daryl answered, hoping like hell it wasn't the wrong thing to say.

"I just don't want her to be thought of as a homewrecker," Kendall added.

"I don't think that, Mr. Ferguson. All I want is to put away whoever did this to her and your family."

"Thank you, son."

Daryl was relieved to know he had survived the conversation properly when Julia walked in with the letter in a plastic ziplock bag. Daryl almost grinned at her attempt to preserve evidence but didn't.

"Thank you, Ma'am. We're going to speak to the man we suspect was involved right now and we'll keep you informed as soon as possible."

"Thank you," she smiled.

A young girl walked in then, and Daryl couldn't help the expression on his face. This girl was basically Juno, only about four years younger.

"Oh, this is our youngest daughter, Charlotte," Kendall spoke up.

"Nice to meet you," Daryl said, holding out his hand to the teenager because he had no idea what else to do.

"You'll find the man who did this, won't you?" Charlotte asked softly.

"We are going to do everything we can; I promise you that."

"Thank you. I want whoever did this to my sister in jail for the rest of their life."

The girl was young, but very serious and obviously dealing with her grief by staying angry.

/

Back in his car, Daryl took a few deep breaths and then looked down at the letter.

 

_**I didn't think you'd come by, I thought I'd scream at you if you did, but I can't let you go. I still don't know why you didn't tell me from the start about her and I'm still very hurt. This can never go anywhere if you lie to me, or maybe that's what you really want. You need to tell me honestly if she's the one you want or not, I need to know the truth. I'm not here to break up a marriage; I just wanted to love you and have you love me back. You're the only one for me; I need to know if that's how you feel too.** _

 

The letter was still in Juno's possession, so it's likely that Brad never saw it. It was apparently from the fight in autumn when she discovered his lie about being separated. Perhaps she was merely writing out the things she wished she could say or maybe she did say all of these things to him, Daryl didn't know, but he wanted to find out.

 


	14. She Tortured Me

_ **The Murder of Juno Ferguson** _

_**~ Chapter Fourteen** _

_**{ She Tortured Me }** _

 

Tara was sitting at her desk when Daryl arrived, and he was happy to see her, she was someone he knew he could learn from. She had been in the department for six years and was only second to Merle in terms of respect, and it was a very close race. All Merle had on her was seniority.

"Ready to pick this guy up for a little Q and A?" she smiled. "I ran him through the system, and he doesn't have any priors. He's clean, but that's no guarantee he's not our guy."

"Sounds good to me, let's go get him."

"Come on, rookie, and I'll show ya how it's done."

/

Brad Straub was sitting down to lunch at his country club when Tara and Daryl located him. His wife, Jeanie, had told them where to find him when they called his home. Jeanie wanted to know why the police were questioning her husband, but Tara only told her it was in connection with the Juno Ferguson case.

Brad Straub was handsome, grey-haired with piercing blue eyes, and had a devilish grin that gave him a more youthful appearance than his 50+ years.

"Mr. Straub, I'm Detective Chambler, and this is Detective Dixon. We'd like to have a word with you."

"I already told you everything I know."

"We have reason to believe that's not the case," Tara insisted.

"There's no need to make a scene here, perhaps we could even discuss this at the station," Daryl added with a friendly smile.

Brad looked around at the faces of his fancy friends and knuckled under.

"Fine. I have nothing to hide...see ya later, fellas."

The men at the table nodded, and it was apparent it would be the talk of the town the moment he walked away.

The ride back to the station was silent, and Daryl was sure he was about to ask for representation before speaking to them. Thankfully, he was wrong about that suspicion, and Brad Straub did not ask for a lawyer at that time.

They invited him into a conference room, and Daryl set up a recording device to keep track of the conversation.

"Can we offer you a coffee, Mr. Straub?"

"Yes, please. Black."

A moment later the interview began, and Daryl felt giddy, they had him right where they wanted him. They decided before beginning that Tara would be the aggressor and Daryl would be the soft touch.

"So, what's this all about anyway. I already talked to him and the other one at the university," Brad began.

"I'm going to be straight with you, Mr. Straub. I don't think you're the kind of man who needs to be coddled into this. We know you had a relationship with Juno Ferguson."

Tara got right to the point; she didn't want to give him any wiggle room.

"Ridiculous," he chuckled.

"It would be in your best interest to simply tell us how things went between you and allow us to question you. If you have nothing beyond a sexual affair to hide then we can eliminate you from our investigation," Daryl smiled in a light and friendly manner.

Brad sighed heavily and looked them both in the eye for a moment before speaking.

"It was never supposed to happen..."

"You and Juno?" Tara pressed after a few moments.

"She pursued me, and eventually I gave in. Juno was crazy about me...I never understood how deep it went with her."

"Not as deep for you, though?" Daryl nudged.

"I cared about her, maybe it was even love, but it was also madness. It was exhilarating. I know it was wrong, but that only made it more exciting."

"Then the thrill wore off?" Tara asked.

"Reality set in. It started last year, about this time and I thought when I confessed to her that I was still married in the fall, it would end. I have a son her age for Christ sakes. Juno just didn't get how insane it was no matter how many times I tried to tell her."

"I was under the impression that you came crawling back to her after the fight," Daryl noted.

"In a way, I suppose I did. I just went to see her because she was missing classes and isolating herself. I didn't want to see her throw her schooling away over what happened. When I stopped by to see her she was so fragile and vulnerable I couldn't just leave her there alone...she needed me."

"So you just let it start again," Tara narrated.

"It was messy. Nothing made sense between us; she had this power over me."

Brad Straub began to crack a little the more that he spoke about her and Daryl couldn't figure out if it was guilt or grief. He took the letter from a folder on the desk and showed it to him; he wanted to provoke a deeper response. Daryl needed to rule him out or pin him to the wall.

"Did you ever see this?"

Brad read the letter and wept.

"She tortured me...I could never end it, but it couldn't last either...Juno tortured me. If I had been younger when we met, then who knows? But it just couldn't work with her being so young."

"Were you still with her when she was murdered?" Tara asked.

"Yes."

"Does your wife know?"

"I don't think so...I suppose she'll find out now though."

"Did you kill her to end it?" Tara asked without reservation. "Was it the only way?"

Brad just shook his head, and Daryl was surprised that he wouldn't verbally proclaim his innocence instead. If someone asked him the same question, he would be adamant about it.

"Do you own a gun, Mr. Straub?" Daryl asked.

He wasn't going to be swayed until he could rule him out properly, Merle taught him that.

"I have an old .22 that I keep out at the cabin," Brad answered, as he blew his nose with a tissue from the table in front of him.

"We need to see it," Tara said dryly. "Where is your cabin?"

"Lake Sinclair...I took her there sometimes," he said, and he almost smiled.

Daryl put the pieces together, and they didn't look good for Brad Straub.

"You own a cabin on the lake where Juno's body was dumped and you own a gun that's the same caliber as the one she was killed with. I must say, Mr. Straub, that doesn't really look good for you."

"That old gun hasn't been fired in a hundred years, go ahead and check yourself," he insisted.

Brad Straub handed over the keys to the cabin and said they were welcome to check the place out for themselves.

"We will be doing just that," Tara smiled. "You're going to be held until such time that we can rule you out."

"Why? I didn't do anything. I told you everything I know," he exclaimed.

"Calm down, Mr. Straub. This is a murder investigation, and with your close ties to the victim and this additional circumstantial information, we need to check it out before we can release you."

"Do I need to call a lawyer?" he asked. "Am I under arrest?"

"You're not under arrest, but we can hold you for 36 hours without charge. Feel free to call a lawyer if you feel like you'll need one," she smiled.

"It seems that way," he answered.

/

Merle was laying on the grass in the backyard looking up at the sky with the boys running circles around him. Every so often he'd try to grab one of their legs and growl, causing them to squeal like piglets and dart out of his grasp. The puppy was jumbled up in the mix and a soft breeze rustled the leaves overhead, whispering that everything was just fine and there was nothing to fear. For a good few hours that afternoon, Merle's anxiety was at the lowest point in weeks and he felt renewed. He was going to thank Daryl properly the next time he saw him, he needed this so badly.

"Honey?"

Andrea called out the back door and came over carrying the phone to him, and he knew the bubble was bursting.

"It's Daryl," she said, placing the phone in his hand.

"What's up?"

"We're holding Brad Straub. He owns a cabin on Lake Sinclair, owns a .22 that's kept out at the cabin, and he admitted to taking her there to be alone."

"But he denies killing her?" Merle asked.

"Yep."

"Do you need me?"

"I think we're good for today. Me and Tara are taking some uniforms out to the cabin, and he's being held here to meet with his lawyer."

"Do you think he did it?" Merle asked.

"I can't get a read on him. He's emotional about her death, but it could just as easily be guilt."

"Did the wife know?"

"He says she didn't."

"You guys did a good job there," Merle grinned. "We didn't have anything but that anon call to place him in the relationship with Juno."

"Tara's a shark," Daryl grinned.

"I'll be in tomorrow, but call me to let me know what you find out there, please."

"You got it, brother."

"And Daryl?"

"Yeah?"

"I needed today with my family."

"I know, it's OK."

"No, I really mean it. Thank you."

"Hey, we're partners, right?"

"Right."

Daryl was going to be a great detective in no time, and Merle knew it. He had an evident gift for the job and Merle had never felt more proud of him. They had both stepped out of the shadow of their past and into the light where they could make a real difference in the world. Daryl would be the one to carry the torch when he no longer could.

 


	15. The Hand-Holding Type

_ **The Murder of Juno Ferguson** _

_**~ Chapter Fifteen** _

_**{ The Hand-Holding Type }** _

 

The drive out to Brad Straub's cabin took about an hour and a half, and they had a unit of uniforms following them in a forensics van. Daryl was excited at the prospect of solving the case before Merle even returned, but things were very seldom as clear as they first appeared.

The lake was stunning and beautifully calm when they arrived. It was hard to believe that a girl's body had been dumped there so recently, just tossed into the lake to be forgotten.

The actual dumpsite wasn't near Brad's cabin, it was way on the other side of the lake, but it was the same water.

The cabin he used for family trips and banging his student was not some fixer-upper; it was a $300,000 palace with five bedrooms, a second-floor balcony overlooking the lake and three fireplaces. Daryl tried to imagine Juno and Brad there, hiding from the world and making love in every single room, it wasn't hard to picture.

"Jesus!" Daryl exclaimed as they opened the door and disabled the alarm system.

"He says the gun is in a cabinet in the master bedroom," Tara noted as the cops pulled up in the van in the driveway. "Let's tear this place apart."

Daryl recognized the cabin as the place where the nude pictures were taken of Juno. Brad Straub was the man she was giving those bedroom eyes to; he was the one she loved so much that somehow it had ended her life.

The gun was not in the cabinet where Brad claimed it would be, it didn't turn up until the very end of the search, and it was in a shed on the property instead. Daryl bagged the gun to take for ballistics and had a feeling deep down that it was the weapon they were looking for.

The cabin revealed nothing of their relationship and from what he could tell there was no physical evidence to be found. The man was obviously good at covering his tracks after screwing his own student for almost an entire year and not getting caught.

Daryl sat with Tara on the front steps after the uniforms left in the early evening to take what little they found back to the station.

"So, what do you figure?" he asked her.

"I don't trust him...but it seems so simple for it to be him."

"Sometimes it is simple. The cases I had in vice were almost always like that," he sighed. "Painfully simple even. Guns, money, drugs, jealousy over women...just death for no good reason."

"We're making progress anyway. Merle will be proud of this," she smiled and smacked him on the back.

/

Back at the station, Daryl was happy to see Carol in the front entrance chatting with some fellow officers. He loved the way she looked in her white coat over top of her plain, casual dress pants and white dress shirt. There was absolutely nothing fancy about her look, but she didn't need any of that. Daryl normally slept with women who tried so hard to appeal to the male gaze. The way Carol drew his eye without even trying made her that much sexier to him.

He walked passed her and caught her eye for a moment and smiled at her like a lovesick kid. Carol left him fumbly and feeling awkward, but he loved it, she made him really feel something, not like the others.

"Hi, Carol," he said softly.

"Hey, Daryl. Do you have a minute?" she asked.

"Sure," he said in a slightly over-enthusiastic tone that he couldn't help.

She walked over to him next to the elevator and asked him if Merle would be in the next day.

"I think so," he said. "Anything I can do?"

"The funeral is on Tuesday, and I'm releasing Juno's body to the funeral home on Monday morning. I just wanted to know if there's anything else he wanted me to test for before I complete my report."

"I'll ask him first thing and make sure we get back to you right away," Daryl insisted.

"Great. You making progress on the case?"

"I think so, me and Tara had a productive day."

Carol was standing closer to him than usual, and he noticed freckles on her nose and further down on her neck. A little daydream overtook him as he imagined kissing those little freckles down her neck to her chest.

"I'm going for a drink tonight," she said suddenly, but he didn't know how to respond.

Was she asking him to come?

"Yeah? At The Loose End?"

"Maybe you could join me?"

"I'd love to," he said, kicking himself for not asking her first. "When?"

"Seven?"

"Perfect. I'll see you there soon."

/

Daryl wrapped up his day with a short conversation with the D.A. about building a case against Brad Straub.

He walked to The Loose End down the street after work and arrived at 6:40 pm, with enough time to check his appearance in the bathroom and order her the white wine she drank. Daryl watched her enter twenty minutes later, and she looked happy to see him as she sat down across the table.

"What a long day," she sighed and reached for the glass of wine. "You're a good man to have this waiting for me."

"It's my pleasure," he winked.

 

_**You're a part-time lover and a full-time friend,** _

_**The monkey on your back is the latest trend.** _

_**I don't see what anyone can see in anyone else, but you.** _

 

A man was strumming a guitar softly in the corner with a girl singing along. It was a sweet little romantic folk duet, and Daryl had the urge to hold Carol's hand. He wasn't the hand-holding type, but Carol made him want things like that. Carol held power over him with absolutely no effort.

 

_**Here is the church and here is the steeple,** _

_**We sure are cute for two ugly people.** _

_**I don't see what anyone can see in anyone else,** _

_**but you.** _

 

_**We both have shiny, happy fits of rage.** _

_**You want more fans; I want more stage.** _

_**I don't see what anyone can see in anyone else but you.** _

 

Before he could stop himself, his hand moved across the table to lightly brush her fingers, and she looked unsure, not exactly the expression he was hoping to see.

"Sorry."

Apparently, she wasn't on the same page so it was the only thing he could say. Maybe she wasn't the hand-holding type either or maybe just not with him.

"It's OK. I just wasn't expecting that...and we work together."

"I understand," he nodded, trying to play it off like it was nothing, but he felt stupid. Carol thought he was a player and he didn't blame her. The whole time he was screwing around, it felt like karma would catch up with him, now it had.

 

_**You're always tryin' to keep it real,** _

_**I'm in love with how you feel.** _

_**I don't see what anyone can see in anyone else,** _

_**but you.** _

 

Daryl wanted to crawl under the table to hide as he sat holding onto his beer glass and listened to the couple singing across the bar. He wasn't used to feeling so vulnerable, and he didn't know what to do next. Carol surprised him by taking his hand then, and all he could do is smile at her.

"Did I fuck up our friendship?" he asked.

"No, Daryl...can I ask you something?"

"Anything."

"What are you really looking for with me?"

He sighed and thought about it for a moment. How could he come across as cool while still being honest? The truth was that he couldn't do both.

"I just want a chance, even though I don't deserve it. I was thinking maybe I could take you out for dinner and a movie. I really like you, Carol...I can't stop thinking about you. I know you probably can't trust a man like me when I say that, but it's true."

She didn't answer him for a long time, and he had no idea what her expression meant as he waited. Daryl dangled on the wire for a long time just drowning in her blue eyes.

 

_**I kiss you on the brain in the shadow of the train,** _

_**Kiss you all starry-eyed,** _

_**my body swingin' from side to side.** _

_**I don't see what anyone can see in anyone else,** _

_**but you...** _

 


	16. What Matters Most

_**The Murder of Juno Ferguson** _

_**~ Chapter Sixteen** _

_**{ What Matters Most }** _

 

"So what happened then?" Merle pressed.

It was 7 am on Sunday morning, and apparently, Daryl couldn't wait to tell him all about the night before with Carol.

"She said she'll think about it!" Daryl exclaimed.

"Oh...well, that's good!" Merle winced.

"She was smiling when she said it...is that not good?" Daryl asked, suddenly sounding concerned.

"It's fine, Daryl. Don't worry," he insisted.

Merle wanted to jump right in and talk to Carol, but he didn't want to interfere. This was the first time Daryl ever had these feelings, and he didn't want to see him hurt, he would probably stop trying if that happened.

"Damn it...she just let me down easy, didn't she?"

"Women are complicated, Daryl. But I think she would have just said no if she wasn't really thinking about it."

"Fuck. How am I supposed to face her now?"

"Daryl, she didn't say no. Don't give up."

"Sorry to call so early for nothing, I thought it was good news. I'll let you get back to your day off."

"I can come in today if you need me."

Andrea rolled over in bed and wrapped her arm around him and kissed his chest.

"Take that goofy puppy for a walk first," she whispered.

"You don't have to, Merle," Daryl sighed.

"No, it's OK. Gimme 2 hours, and I'll meet you at the office."

"Thanks, brother."

"It's nothing. See you then. Keep your head up, OK?"

"Yeah, I'll try."

/

Merle was pulled into Andrea's arms the second he hung up the phone and grinned as he pinned her to the bed, taking her mouth with his own. Somehow the boys were still both asleep, and he wasn't wasting a single moment.

"Little morning quickie?" she winked.

"Yep, now get those panties off, woman," he growled.

He assisted her with her panties under her white nightie, ripping them as he yanked them off. Merle needed to get back to the case, even a day away from it was bugging him, but he was going to fuck his wife silly first.

Sometimes it was right to spend half an hour warming her up, and sometimes he could tell she just wanted it fast and hard. This was one of those times.

"Tell me what I wanna hear," he demanded.

This was one of their sexual routines, and she knew all of her lines. This is what Merle was trying to convince Daryl of. A woman knowing what you needed and wanted most wasn't boring, it was incredible.

"Gimme that cock, mister. You're the only one I want," she whined, and his body trembled with desire.

"That's right...and only you'll do, honey...wrap those legs around my waist and lemme give it to ya."

He grabbed her breasts through her nighty, not even bothering to undress her and drove into her like laying claim to new found land.

"Ohhh yeah!" he gushed.

Andrea gasped and reached up to grab the rails of their bed, and he yanked her nighty up to watch her breasts rocking as he fucked her.

That sweet grin, her hazy lust filled eyes, and those perfect full white breasts bouncing with every thrust; Merle was in heaven.

He knelt between her legs and held them up behind the knees to catch the full view of her beauty.

"Cum with me," he hissed.

Andrea licked her lips and cupped her own breasts in her hands for a second, let her hands drift over her nipples, and then the right hand moved down between her legs.

She lay one slender finger on either side of his cock, and his eyes rolled back in his head at the sight of it.

"Jesus H. Christ, woman!"

Soon she was teasing her own clit as he watched his dick disappear into her sweet pussy over and over, it was too much to take.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Oh yeah...let it go, baby."

Doing it this way meant they could time the eruption of sexual fire together and it was one of his favorites. She whimpered and arched her back as she hit that peak and lay her hand on his chest as he brought it home with especially hard thrusting and grunting like a caveman.

"God damn it, woman! Oh, fuck yes! Jesus!"

The boys started to demand attention within five minutes of his morning fun, and so he let Andrea sleep in as he got them both breakfast and took them for a walk with Charlie.

He'd be back at work by 11 am, Andrea knew he'd never take two full days off in the middle of a case so it went without saying that he'd be back to work by Sunday.

/

Brad Straub's wife arrived at the station just as Merle did and she demanded to speak to a detective on the case.

"Let me take her," Merle said, as he straightened his tie and put a piece of gum in his mouth.

"She's not impressed with her husband being kept overnight," Daryl grinned.

"She'll be even less impressed when she finds out he was up to a year's worth of extra tutoring. When is the ballistics in? We need that rushed."

"It'll be another hour or so. The lab tech got a little bitchy, but I told her it's important."

"Isn't that the lab tech you were screwing a couple months ago?" Merle chuckled.

"Maybe that's why she's bitchy too," Daryl winked. "I swear I'm not a dog anymore!"

"It ain't me you need to convince; it's Carol."

"Don't remind me."

/

"When are you releasing him?" Jeanie Straub demanded before Merle could even sit down.

"That depends on a few things, Ma'am."

"On what?"

Jeanie was wearing a classy beige pantsuit and gold jewelry. Her golden blonde hair fell around her shoulders in big blown out waves; she looked like a total fox from the 70s to Merle. He couldn't help wondering why Brad would mess around on a woman who looked this fine, but by the end of the interview, he understood it more clearly.

"There are a few things about the last year concerning your husband that you might not know about."

"What are you talking about?"

"He was having an affair."

"Bullshit."

"Ma'am, he admitted to it. He was sleeping with the victim, and Juno was a student of his."

She looked angry then, but she reigned it in. This was not the kind of woman who betrayed her emotions to a stranger if she could help it.

"You think you're so clever, don't you? You know everyone's secrets and just throw them in people's faces," she hissed.

"Of course not, we only bring it up because it makes your husband a person of interest in this case."

"I presume you have physical evidence then."

"I'm afraid we can't discuss that. We're sorting through a few things before we can release him and he has legal representation, Ma'am."

"You can cut that 'Ma'am' shit right now. I'm not your grandmother."

"Just trying to mind my manors, Mrs. Straub."

"Aren't you a gentleman," she huffed.

He'd never met anyone like her before. Jeannie Straub was gorgeous but venomous and as willing to strike as a coiled rattlesnake.

"I know you're concerned about your husband, but we're doing everything by the book here."

"I'm concerned only for myself and my son. If he actually killed that girl you can fry him for all I care."

/

Merle walked out of the interview room a little stunned and had no idea what the hell to think.

"So?" Daryl asked.

"That woman is...I don't even know," he answered, shaking his head.

"What do you mean?"

"She says if he's guilty we can fry him for all she cares."

Daryl tried not to laugh; it's the kind of thing guys would laugh about in vice, but not in homicide.

"So she didn't take the news of her husband and Juno well I take it."

"Nope."

Everything was pointing toward an easy conviction, especially when the ballistics proved that it was Brad's gun used in the murder a few hours later.

Daryl called the Ferguson's to keep them informed, and Kendall was having a hard time dealing with the details of his daughter's last year.

"Why didn't she tell us any of this?" he asked Merle as if he'd have a clue.

"She probably assumed you wouldn't approve."

"It's hard enough to lose a child, but then to find out they aren't who you thought...it's even worse."

"Juno is who you thought she was. You told me she was intelligent, driven, funny and kind...all of that is still true. She was just young; young people make misjudgments in matters of the heart."

"That's true," Kendall conceded.

"She wasn't out to break up a marriage; it was him who lied about that. Juno was all of the wonderful things you remember, Mr. Ferguson, and none of this changes that. We're going to do everything we can to get your family justice for Juno."

"Thank you, Detective...I really needed to hear all that."

"You're welcome, Mr. Ferguson. Give my best to your family, and we'll be in touch as soon as we know more."

Daryl watched as Merle hung up the phone.

"You were made for this job," he said.

"Sometimes I think this job will be the end of me, but nothing makes me feel more alive. Is that crazy?" Merle asked.

"A little, but if crazy is what it takes then it's all good. You're gonna put away the prick that killed Juno, that's what matters most."

 

 

 


	17. Dark Chocolate and Lilies

_**The Murder of Juno Ferguson** _

_**~ Chapter Seventeen** _

_**{ Dark Chocolate and Lilies }** _

At work the next morning, Merle was feeling frustrated with their case against Brad Straub, there was no smoking gun, even with the actual gun.

"This doesn't sit right with me," Merle sighed.

"How do you mean?" Daryl asked.

"Motive. There ain't no motive, brother. Brad was still with her when she was murdered, and she wasn't tellin' tales. As far as I can tell he had nothing to lose."

"What about the wife? We know it was his gun so maybe she did it."

"Could be. That woman's a snake. She didn't seem to know about the two of them fucking around, but she also seems more than capable of lying."

"So where does it leave us?" Daryl sighed.

"No idea, but I could use another call from that anonymous character."

"I'm going to get a DNA sample from Brad and match it against the fingernail scrapings. I'll send the tech in to collect it right away."

"Good thinking. We need something to wrap this thing up," Merle said, grabbing the paperwork to collect the sample.

"I'll take it over to Carol," Daryl smiled.

"Oh yeah," Merle winked. "Still barking up that tree?"

"Shut up," Daryl sighed.

"I told you, don't give up. Andrea told me no a couple of times first."

"Did she?"

"Hell yeah, didn't I tell you that?"

"No. So what did you do to land her?"

"I bought her flowers and candy and dedicated a song to her on the radio, and if you laugh I'll kick your ass," he chuckled.

"That's adorable."

"Hey, it worked."

"What song was it?"

"'Lovesong' by The Cure."

"Seriously?"

"She likes The Cure."

"I need to find out what songs Carol likes, cause I'm running out of ideas...looks like she just doesn't want me," he shrugged.

"Try the flowers and candy thing before you call it quits."

"Why not?" Daryl smiled and went off to see Carol at the medical examiner's office.

"If you ask me, you can't go wrong with lilies and dark chocolate," Merle added.

Daryl nodded, but he didn't see a whole lot of point in pursuing it.

/

Carol was elbows deep in someone's bowels when he walked in, and somehow she still looked beautiful.

"Hey, Daryl," she smiled.

"Hey. We need to run a match on DNA from Brad Straub to the DNA you collected. I can just leave the paperwork and the sample on your desk since you got your hands full."

"Thanks, Daryl. I'll send it right away."

"OK."

Daryl stood and watched her for a moment. Her face was covered with a mask except for her pretty blue eyes, she was wearing her white lab coat, and her gloves were covered in blood...but she looked beautiful still. She looked just the same as the first time he saw her. He considered asking her if she had thought about a date yet but decided not to; he didn't want to be that guy who couldn't take a hint.

"You OK?" she asked when she noticed him still standing there.

"I'm fine, sorry. Talk to you later."

"Daryl, wait-"

"Yeah?"

"Did you still want to go see a movie?"

He knew he probably looked ridiculously happy then, but he didn't care.

"Definitely! When?"

"Tonight? There's a movie I'm dying to see if you don't mind me choosing."

"That's fine; I'll watch anything you like."

"Great."

"What time is it playing?"

"8:20 at the Plaza Theatre."

"I'll pick you up at 7:30 then?"

"Sure. 506 Pine Street West."

Carol looked up and smiled at him then, he couldn't see her mouth, but he could tell by the way her pretty eyes squinted.

"See you then," she said softly.

Daryl found himself on the front steps of the medical examiner's office punching the air and screaming 'Yes!' at the top of his lungs. He was ready to try for more, and he wanted it with her.

/

"We have to release Brad Straub, but if that DNA comes back positive we can go grab him again," Merle said as Daryl walked back into the office.

They couldn't hold him any longer without an official arrest, but Merle thought it was essential to make him sweat it out in a cell, maybe he'd think of talking.

"Guess who's got a proper date with Carol tonight?" Daryl grinned.

"That's awesome. What changed her mind?"

"Who knows? I didn't give her any flowers or anything but I will tonight."

"She's taking care of the DNA?"

"Yep. That's all taken care of," he smiled.

"I keep feeling like we're missing something. Maybe I'm losing my touch," Merle commented.

Daryl could see Merle starting to crack; he was always too hard on himself.

"Never happen, brother. I think we're on the right track. We know it was his gun, right?"

"Yeah, but it's him that doesn't fit...and he has an alibi for that night."

"The Uber receipt?"

"Yeah, and his wife was with him...unless they're covering for each other."

"It's confusing. I'm gonna ask Tara what she thinks."

"Good idea. I'm gonna finish up this paperwork and then go over my interview list; maybe we're missing something."

"Maybe. We'll figure it out," Daryl smiled.

"Nice to see you smiling again," Merle noted. "Have fun tonight."

/

Daryl played some happy tunes in the car on the way to Carol's place; he just needed one evening away from the Juno case. He'd be back at it first thing in the morning, but now it was all about Carol.

 

_**It's been a long, long time, yeah** _

_**Since I got you on my mind. (ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)** _

_**Now you are here** _

_**I said it's so clear** _

_**There's so much we could do,** _

_**baby, just me and you.** _

 

_**Come on and stir it up, little darlin'** _

_**Stir it up. Come on, baby** _

_**Come on and stir it up,** _

_**little darlin' stir it up...** _

 

He sang along as he drove and looked over at the lilies and dark chocolate next to him, this was it. Maybe he could have what Merle had with Andrea; he just needed to show Carol he was up to it.

He parked up in front of her house and checked himself out in the mirror. Freshly shaved and minty breath with a neatly ironed dress shirt...it was the best he could do.

He carried the flowers and chocolate to her door and knocked. It was so much more nerve-wracking than just screwing around, but it was worth so much more to him; she was worth it.

"Hey, Daryl," she smiled when she opened the door.

"This is for you," he said, holding out the gifts to her.

"Oh, that's so sweet of you," she exclaimed. "Come inside a minute; I need to put these in some water."

Daryl stepped inside and watched her drag a chair across the kitchen floor to check a high cupboard for a vase. She was in a red dress and black heels, an absolute smoke show in his opinion. Her short hair revealed her neck and the dress teased him with her collarbones and the freckles on her soft skin.

She put the white lilies in water and put the bar of dark chocolate in her purse.

"We can sneak it into the theatre," she winked.

"Bad girl," he grinned.

In his car, it only got sweeter when the music started up again, and she was next to him.

 

_**Turn your lights down low** _

_**And pull your window curtains** _

_**Oh, let your moon come shining in -** _

_**Into our life again,** _

_**Sayin' ooh, it's been a long, long time** _

_**I kept this message for you, girl** _

_**But it seems I was never on time** _

_**Still, I wanna get through to you, girl** _

_**On time - on time.** _

_**I want to give you some love** _

_**I want to give you some good, good lovin'** _

_**Oh I - oh I - oh I** _

_**Say, I want to give you some good, good lovin'** _

 

"Bob Marley, huh?" she teased. "You must be trying to score."

Daryl wondered if she was testing him and he figured he'd play it smart.

"I wouldn't say no to that...but I'm just excited to be with you, Carol. Thanks for thinking about it and giving me a shot."

"I wasn't so sure...maybe I'm still not 100% sure, but I'm curious about you," she said softly.

"You can ask me anything you want," he insisted. "I'll be as honest as I can."

"What made you decide to stop being a player?"

Daryl was a little taken aback by how upfront she was being, and while he was terrified of saying the wrong thing, he knew she'd detect bullshit.

"I guess I can just see it for what it was...I was being a coward."

"I'm listening."

"My parents sucked," he began. "They didn't give a shit about Merle and me, so all I ever had was him. I guess the fastest way to say it is I had intimacy issues."

"But that's over now? Why?"

"Cause I'm ready to get hurt."

"What?"

"I played around cause then I could be in control and never get hurt...but I'm ready and willing to risk it to be with you."

"Why me?"

"It's a bunch of things," he began as he pulled into the theatre parking lot, "like how smart you are and how sweet you are...but mostly it's how you make me feel. Nobody ever made me feel like you do with just a simple look."

"Daryl...that's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me," she smiled and reached out to touch his face.

That night, Daryl sat next to Carol in a darkened theatre, holding hands and eating chocolate from her purse. He never understood the idea of dating before, but he loved it with her. He wasn't just focused on getting her into bed like with other women; he was just enjoying the moment. She had chosen a foreign independent subtitled film he could barely follow, but it was perfect, just to be next to her.

He tried to follow the words on the screen and reacted to everything a little later than the rest of the audience. Daryl loved to watch her beautiful face as her expression changed throughout the film, she was perfect in the glow of the silver screen.

/

Daryl drove her home after the movie, hoping for a kiss, and as he turned to her expecting a simple goodbye, he got so much more.

"I had a great time tonight," she smiled and then just like in a movie she moved closer to him in what felt like slow motion.

Her blue eyes closed and he reached his hand out to touch her cheek. The kiss he'd been praying for started nice and slow and her sweet lips felt like they were made only to kiss him.

It remained soft and tentative, for a moment, and then he moved in closer. Suddenly he could feel the way she was surrendering, and he knew that she really did feel something for him after all. Carol's hands came to rest on his upper arms, and he let his hands drift down to her waist to get just that little bit closer.

Eventually, he felt her tongue enter his mouth, and she tasted of chocolate. Daryl surprised even himself by urging her into his lap, and when she came willingly to settle her weight on his thighs, every fantasy of her came to life around him.

"Don't you dare hurt me...you're the first man I'm trusting after my ex," she panted as his mouth found her throat.

"I couldn't hurt you for anything, Carol...not for anything."

Daryl rested his hands on her hips, and the kiss took them both over, leaving them panting and grasping at each other's bodies.

"Do you want to come in?" she whispered.

"Hell yes," he answered.

Carol reached down between their bodies and ran her hand over the desperate bulge in his pants. He could feel her shudder with desire and knew that it was going to be a night to remember.

/

Stumbling through the door of her home, she slid off her heels, and they were immediately kissing again as she led him down the hallway.

Daryl's heart raced, and he was terrified of not pleasing her, of her not trusting him, or of doing or saying something wrong. He realized then that he was supposed to be scared, the stakes were supposed to be high. If he had nothing to lose then what was the point?

"I can't believe this," he smiled as he lay her out on the bed. "I can't believe you're giving me this chance."

"I kinda can't believe it either," she confessed. "I tried so hard not to want you."

"I'm not that man anymore, not with you," he vowed.

"I believe you," she smiled.

She tore at his belt then and pushed his pants down over his ass. Carol was rough and needy with him, and it made him ache to be hers forever. He could feel her wanting him the way he wanted her, and he felt blessed by her touch.

Daryl had to stop to check in, even if she was under him and holding him so close.

"Are you sure you want this with me?" he asked. "I want you to feel good about this."

"I do," she assured him. "I was afraid that maybe this was a game to you."

"It's not," he swore, looking down into her eyes. "You're the one for me, Carol...just ask Merle how much you mess me up whenever I see you."

Carol grinned and pulled his mouth back to hers then, and he knew it was going to be OK. Her warm hand closed around his dick then, and his head dropped to the pillow next to her beautiful face as she began to stroke him to the limit. He was rock hard just at the thought of her, and she jerked him off just right.

His hands eventually dared to move up under her dress, and her skin was impossibly soft against the palm of his hand. Daryl lay at her side and by the time his fingertips grazed the silk of her panties he was ready to come apart. For a man who had so much sex it was ridiculous she was getting him off so easily. As it turned out, his heart being involved as well made sex a completely different experience.

Carol unfastened the buttons of his shirt then, and he knew he was actually about to possess her; Carol was about to be his. Her warm hands met with his strong chest, and flames licked the clouds as they began tearing at each other's clothing.

Soon she was beneath him, willing and so beautiful and Daryl understood everything Merle was saying about love and what made everything worth it. He settled between her legs and kissed so slowly down her body to her feet and then slowly back up. For the first time ever in bed, Daryl wanted to talk, and he didn't even try to stop himself.

"I remember the first time I saw you, all I saw were your eyes at first...they were so blue I couldn't think straight."

He made it to her knees and then his mouth crept up her inner thigh, his tongue trailing teasingly up her soft flesh.

"You had a mask on, and your gloves were covered in blood, and I still wanted you right then and there. I knew you were different right away...I knew you were like nobody else."

"Come on," she giggled like she didn't believe it.

"I mean it, and then you started to talk, and everything you said was so damned smart I could barely keep up...you're everything a man could want all in one woman, Carol."

He made it to her burning lips and licked his way into her good books for life as she tangled her fingers in his hair. Carol hissed and then moaned laboriously, and he smiled with his lips against hers for a moment.

"You won't be sorry, Carol...I won't let you down."

Daryl took his time, listened to her voice, to the way she moaned and made it a point to learn what she liked. Soon she was falling apart, and he was thinking about a condom but had to check in.

"How far do you want this to go?" he asked, just as she was reaching the end game.

"Condoms are in my top drawer over there," she pointed, and he got up to slide one down his ample length before finishing her off.

Carol began to crack with his fingers deep inside her and his eager tongue flicking her clit, and then it happened. Daryl cradled her head in his strong arm and thrust into her like a man on fire seeking salvation. His hot mouth claimed her breasts as he held her right leg around his back, filling her with every inch of his lust...hoping to also claim her heart.

The moment was perfect, and the way she sobbed and pulled her legs up higher on his back showed him it was just as good for her.

"Oh...oh my God, Daryl..."

He gave her all he had and discovered what sex could really be. Daryl was in love for the first time in his life, and when she asked him to stay, he almost told her he'd happily stay forever.

 


	18. That's On You!

_ **The Murder of Juno Ferguson** _

_**~ Chapter Eighteen** _

_**{ That's On You! }** _

"Merle...honey..."

He was in rough shape that morning, and it broke Andrea's heart to see him so wrecked. The smell of whiskey lingered in the air, and she knew that she had to say something for once. Adding to his strain was something she tried to avoid, though. Andrea knew how his work turned him inside out, and she wished that she could share in that stress, but he would never bring the ugliness to her, she knew that.

Merle took it all personally. In his mind, all of those murdered people were his responsibility, and it killed Andrea to think of the burden he carried.

"What time is it?" he groaned as he got up.

"Time to get moving, honey, you're running a little late. I got you some water and some Advil...you look rough, my love."

"I feel rough."

"The boys are still sleeping, go jump in the shower, and I'll make your coffee."

"This case is bullshit, babe."

She leaned down to kiss his cheek, knowing he'd been up drinking all night and driving himself crazy over it.

"You don't need to punish yourself this way, Merle."

Merle sighed and rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands.

"I feel so old, Andrea...I might be too old for you now," he chuckled weakly.

"Never. You're the only man for me, and you know it."

"You're a madwoman," he smiled.

She knew she had to persuade him to get help, but it was hard to push him when he was already at the edge. She needed him to know that she was on his side, but she also had to ensure he got help while there was still a side to be on.

/

The morning light poured in through Carol's window, and Daryl looked over at the sleeping beauty next to him.

"So it wasn't just a good dream, huh?" he smiled. "Good morning."

"Good morning."

"Any regrets?"

"No. I'm glad you stayed."

"The trick is going to be getting rid of me," he winked as he rolled over to get up. "I just need to call Merle real quick, stay right there for me."

"I'm not going anywhere," she yawned.

/

Daryl needed to let Merle know he'd make his own way to work that morning but as it turned out Merle was having a slow start. Andrea answered the phone, and he could just tell that things were rocky that morning.

"Hey, Daryl. He'll be right there. He had a rough night last night."

"It's OK; I'm getting to work myself this morning. Is he sick?"

"Yes, but try telling him that. It's just a hangover," she whispered.

It wasn't like Merle to be this bad on a weekday, the case was getting to him now, and Daryl worried that everything was becoming too much for his only brother.

"Tell him to take his time coming in, and I'll talk to him about it today, OK?"

"I hope you can get through to him...I never want to add to his stress," Andrea sighed.

"Hey, I got this. Don't worry, OK?"

"Thanks, Daryl."

Daryl climbed back in bed to cuddle Carol for another twenty minutes, and he felt like the king of the universe in her arms.

/

"You alright?"

"I'm fine. It ain't like you're known for being Mr. Punctuality," Merle huffed when he finally made it to the office.

Daryl sighed and left it alone, he'd woken up in such a great mood over Carol, and he didn't want to fight. Less than five minutes later, he got the apology he was expecting anyway.

"I'm sorry, Daryl...this is just pissing me off now. I'm usually better than this."

"Hey, if the evidence ain't there then what do we do, right?"

"I guess so. I just feel like all of my senses are dull...like I can't focus."

"Maybe...never mind."

"What?" Merle pressed.

"Nothing, man."

"Say it, Daryl," Merle sighed.

"You gotta stop drinking, but you know that."

"I know."

"I'm not trying to judge you, man...I love you. It's just that, you're the best homicide cop in all of Georgia, and I don't want to see booze take that from you."

"I know. It just feels like I need it."

"It's OK to say this is too much for you," Daryl insisted.

"No, it ain't. This is who I am; this is what I do."

"It's what you do, but it's not who you are," Daryl corrected. "There's other jobs, but your wife and kids only have one you. I only have one you."

Merle sighed and leaned back in his desk chair as Daryl prayed that he hadn't said too much. Daryl would never forgive himself for not speaking up if Merle sank deeper into addiction and lost himself and his family, though. He had to say something.

"I'm gonna take care of it...as soon as this case is over."

"Sounds good, brother. Nothing wrong with taking some time for yourself and getting some shit worked out."

There was a silence and Daryl could feel what Merle was thinking on the other side of the office.

"I'm not like him-"

Daryl knew where Merle was going next, but he wasn't going to allow it. Merle was nothing like their father.

"Don't even start with that shit around me, Merle. You're ten times the man that prick ever was."

"Thanks, Daryl."

"Hey, it's true. No need for thanks."

/

Merle got himself moving after a few cups of coffee and a Boston Cream donut, care of Daryl and went back to canvas the school. Merle was sure he was missing something there. Daryl was discussing the case with Tara around noon, and she didn't seem to think they had a solid suspect either.

"This doesn't seem like the actions of a man like Brad Straub. Even though he was carrying on a relationship with a younger woman, he still seemed somewhat rational. You said that he told you he didn't see a future in it and figured it was best to end it."

"Merle's questioning it too, it's starting to drive him crazy."

"Is he OK?" Tara asked gently.

"He needs a break, I think. When this case is solved, I think he needs a couple of weeks off."

"Tell him he can call me, OK? I can help out with anything he needs, take the kids for a night or two...this is harder on him cause he cares more than most detectives."

"That's true," Daryl sighed. "I care about this job too, but I'll be damned if I'm gonna let it take down my only brother."

"You're a gem," she smiled.

Daryl's phone buzzed then, and he was giddy to see that it was the lab. Carol said she'd put a rush on the DNA, but this was unheard of.

"Yeah?"

"Daryl, Brad Straub is a match."

It was the usual lab tech Daryl received calls from, Daryl didn't know him very well, but their relationship was friendly.

"Fuckin' hell. Thanks, buddy. Damn that was fast!"

"We ran the Y-STR markers in the sample; it's the fastest testing method for fingernail scrapings cause it only isolates the male DNA."

"Uh huh?" Daryl mused.

"Too technical?" the tech laughed.

"Yep. So I can make an arrest?"

"Go for it. I'll send over the results, and you can get your warrant."

"Yes! Thanks, again."

Daryl hung up the phone and punched the air.

"Good news I take it?" Tara grinned.

"Brad Straub is a match for the DNA. We got the prick," he grinned as he dialed Merle's number.

/

Merle spoke with Maggie Greene again briefly, but she had nothing to add. He wasn't gaining any new information at the University. His phone rang, and he sighed as he sat down on a bench in the courtyard.

"Hey, Daryl. What's up?"

"I'll meet you there, man. We got an arrest to make as soon as the warrant gets forwarded."

"What?"

"The DNA is a match to Brad Straub. We got him."

Merle didn't feel Daryl's enthusiasm, even though he couldn't really argue that the case was solved. Something about it didn't compute.

"I'll wait for you in the front courtyard," Merle said. "Brad's teaching a class right now as far as I know."

"His students will never forget this," Daryl chuckled.

/

Daryl ran his fingers through his hair as they stood at the door to the classroom, he was excited and nervous to be making an arrest in a lecture hall.

"You ready?" Merle asked.

"Ready."

Merle knocked at the door and waited for Brad to answer. If possible, they would just ask him into the hallway and do it in a civilized manner.

"What is it now?" he growled.

Daryl took a step toward him and instructed him to turn and put his hands behind his back as he began the pat down and Miranda right speech.

"Brad Straub, you are under arrest for the murder of Juno Ferguson. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney, and to have an attorney present during any questioning."

"You're making a big mistake!" Mr. Straub shouted.

"You have the right to remain silent," Merle reminded him.

It was best not to speak until he had a chance to calm down.

"Whoever killed her is going to be walking free, and that's on you! That's on you!" Brad screamed as he was pulled from the classroom and down the hall.

Merle tried to ignore his words, they had DNA and the murder weapon, but it still felt wrong.

All the way back to the station there was silence in the car, but Merle couldn't help looking back to Brad, cuffed in the backseat. He looked defeated and lost but not necessarily guilty.

/

"We made an arrest this morning, Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson," Merle announced at the front doorstep of the home where they were staying.

"Who did it?" Julia asked.

"We arrested Professor Brad Straub," Daryl informed them proudly.

"That bastard she slept with?" Kendall growled.

"Ken! Shhh! Charlotte will hear you."

"It is the man she was involved with, yes," Merle added.

"Did he confess?" Kendall pushed.

"We have some physical evidence that matches the suspect, but we can't discuss that with you I'm afraid. I swear we're doing everything we can," Merle vowed.

"Thank you, Detectives. Please, come to the graveside service if you have the time. It's at Woodlawn Cemetery, here in Atlanta...if she was buried back home I'd never leave the graveyard," Julia sighed.

"We'll be there," Merle nodded, "and we'll be in touch with any new developments."

"Thank you," Kendall said and held out his hand to Merle.

Merle shook his hand, but all he could hear were the words of Brad Straub in his mind.

_**Whoever killed her is going to be walking free, and that's on you! That's on you!** _

 


	19. Damien Rosen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting another chapter right away:)  
> Thanks for reading.

_ **The Murder of Juno Ferguson** _

_**~ Chapter Nineteen** _

_**{ Damien Rosen }** _

 

The funeral service at the church was beautiful by all accounts, and the Ferguson's appeared to be feeling some small relief as they lay their child to rest. The guilty party was in custody, and they could breathe a sigh of relief for that at least. Merle didn't share that same relief, though, his doubts were many and eating him alive. Having an innocent man in custody was even worse than not solving a case. The DNA fit though so Merle didn't have a leg to stand on to release Brad Straub. Merle just knew he wasn't the one who killed her, but he had nothing except his gut as proof.

The graveside service was a gloomy affair; there was nothing OK about the end of this young woman's life. Merle had come to appreciate what he knew of Juno. She was a girl who longed to capture life's beauty in photographs and to give and receive love. Juno was a good friend and good daughter. The fact that her love life was a bit of a mess didn't change that she had a good heart and Merle wanted desperately to solve the case, but nothing about Brad Straub felt right.

Merle stood far back from the crowd with Daryl in his dark suit and eyed the group of mourners. It was a well-attended affair, and most of the key players were present.

Juno's coffin was mahogany, with brass handles and roses embossed on the lid. The Ferguson's stood stoically as she was lowered into the ground and Merle felt a chill run all through his body. He couldn't bear the idea of ever burying Brady or Mark; it was so unnatural for a child to go first.

The burial was completed, but it didn't stay calm as everyone became aware of a young man watching from a distance. When Kendall Ferguson saw who it was, all hell broke loose.

"What's he doing here?" Kendall hollered, and Merle knew it was going to be a mess.

Merle and Daryl could see Kendall heading in the direction of Gareth, and there was no way it could end well. Merle couldn't wrap his head around Gareth having the balls to turn up.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" he repeated.

"I'm sorry...I didn't hurt her...that professor was arrested. It wasn't me!"

"You may not have killed her, but you scared the life out of her!" Kendall began. "She thought you were going to hurt her! You scared my little girl, and now she's gone! Why couldn't people just leave her alone? Why her?"

"I'm sorry. I never meant to scare her."

Merle tried to intervene and prevent it from escalating, but Kendall Ferguson had heard enough. He landed a good hard right fist on Gareth's jaw, and Daryl winced as he watched blood begin to drip from the college kid's mouth.

"Alright now," Merle said, grabbing Kendall by the shoulders. "Julia needs you...go on and be with her. This is over now."

Tensions were high, and Daryl just took it all in. Homicide was so much more emotional than vice. Vice was a lot of tension, but it was mostly anger; there was so much pain in homicide work.

Daryl led Gareth by the arm to Merle's car and admonished him for turning up after he said he wouldn't go.

"What the fuck were you thinking?" he growled.

"I thought they'd realize I didn't do it cause you arrested Professor Straub and maybe not kick my ass," he sighed.

"That man will be pissed at you for life now, kid."

"I guess so."

Merle caught up with them in the parking lot after calming the Ferguson's down and paying his respects; he was annoyed as well.

"I hope you learned your lesson," Merle teased. "Let's have a look."

Merle asked him to open his mouth, and it didn't look as bad as he originally thought.

"I think one of my damn teeth is loose. That guy can sure fight for an old guy," Gareth moaned.

"People underestimate us older guys," Merle interjected.

"You're lucky it wasn't worse. We'll drop you off at the hospital if you want," Daryl offered.

"Nah, fuck it. It's not that bad."

"What the hell possessed you to go in the first place?" Merle asked as he put away some paperwork and prepared to leave.

"I just wanted to say goodbye. I still feel bad about what happened, and I didn't think anyone would even see me standing so far back."

"You need to stay the hell away from those people," Merle warned.

"I will. I'm done now...there were a lot of people there, hey?"

"Yeah. She obviously meant a lot to a lot of people," Daryl said, lighting a smoke outside the car and offering one to Gareth.

"Even some people I didn't think knew her showed up," Gareth noted, taking a long drag and blowing it up at the sky.

"Like who?" Merle asked out of sheer curiosity.

"Like some snotty girls I never even saw her talk to. They probably just showed up to say they were there...the bitches. Damien Rosen didn't know her, and he was there too, he doesn't even go to our school."

"Who's that?" Daryl asked.

"He works at a used record shop...I heard he's fucking Fred Straub these days," Gareth chuckled.

Merle heard the words 'used record shop,' and something began to form in his mind...an answer.

"So this guy's dating Fred Straub, and he works at a record store, and he didn't even know Juno."

"I'm sure he didn't. Do people do that? Just show up at a funeral for entertainment?" Gareth asked, but all Merle could think of was the anon caller.

 

_**"And remember to bring me that new release pressing next time you work."** _

_**"I will."** _

_**"It's 180g vinyl, and I'm dying to hear it."** _

_**"Alright, just a second."** _

 

Merle had him, the anon caller was this Damien guy without a doubt, and he needed to know enough to go reel him in. Damien would have the answers; he was the key to solving the case.

 


	20. A Story to Tell

_ **The Murder of Juno Ferguson** _

_**~ Chapter Twenty** _

_**{ A Story To Tell }** _

 

"Whereabouts does this Damien guy work?"

Merle needed to speak to Damien immediately, he was on the verge of something big, and he could feel it. He didn't, however, want to tip Gareth off about his suspicions. All he needed was Damien getting a call in advance. Merle had no idea who he could trust.

"Why do you wanna know that?" Gareth asked.

"Just looking for some records," he said casually.

"He works at Vintage Vinyl just off campus last I checked."

"You sure you don't need a doctor?" Daryl asked again.

"Nah, to be honest, I was asking for it."

"Alright," Merle waved as he got back in the car with Daryl, "Take it easy, kid."

/

"OK. What's going on?" Daryl asked as soon as the door closed.

"That Damien guy is the anon caller," Merle grinned as he pulled out of the parking lot.

"Huh? How do you know that?"

"When I was on the phone with him, someone in the background mentioned something about him bringing a record home from work. I fuckin' got him! He knows who did this!"

Daryl felt himself come alive with excitement. They were close.

Merle called in to tell Tara what they were onto and she looked up Damien Rosen for priors on the way. Damien was completely clean without a single conviction or even a traffic ticket. Merle gripped the wheel with his eyes on the road ahead like a hawk; he could feel every cell igniting with energy. The thrill of solving a case was what he lived for; this was the buzz he kept chasing like an addict.

He pulled up outside the old used record store that also sold bongs, incense, and rolling papers and took a long slow breath as he spotted a young man through the window.

"I wonder if that's him," he said.

"Let's go find out," Daryl smiled, smacking him on the back.

The door had bells that jingled loudly when Merle pushed it open, and the young man behind the counter raised his head to make eye contact. The man was about 25, handsome, African American, and well dressed. He said nothing but Merle knew that the man recognized him from TV or maybe the newspaper.

"Are you Damien Rosen?" Daryl began and out of nowhere, the man took off like a kite in the wind.

"Fuck!" Merle hollered and knew he wouldn't be easy to chase down.

Merle wasn't much of a runner, and this man was clearly young and fit, he would need Daryl to step it up.

"I got it," Daryl nodded and took off after him.

Through narrow racks of records and past countless shelves of bongs, candles, and a beaded hippie curtain, Daryl ran as fast as his legs would go. Damien ran like the wind and Daryl seriously questioned if he could catch up. Merle was trailing behind, but it was all on Daryl, and he knew it.

Out through the back door, Damien began down the alley and almost made it to a park across the street where he could have disappeared into the trees. If it weren't for a kid on a skateboard, he would have made it there.

Damien ran the kid over, tumbled into the street and failed to make it to his feet after Daryl reached him and held him to the pavement.

"You run like a fuckin' gazelle, dude!" he panted as he got Damien to his feet.

"How did you find me?" he asked as Merle approached them in the street.

"It's a long story," Merle answered. "What we need is for you to come and tell us your story now. You have something to tell us, don't you?"

"Yeah," Damien winced.

Merle knew damn well that Damien wasn't to blame for the crime, he could feel it in his gut, and he'd bet his own house that he was right. Damien did know who did it though, he was a decent young man being torn apart by the knowledge and getting it all out would probably do him good.

/

They allowed him to call his boss to bring in a co-worker to take over his shift for him. Damien said nothing all the way to the station and Merle was fine with that. As Daryl drove, he watched the young man's body language in the mirror. He could see that there was a lot to tell and that it would blow the lid off the case. Merle had studied at the academy how to read people, and he already felt like he had this man figured out. Damien was going to be their savior in the case, the one to bring the resolution everyone needed.

Back at the station they did their best to make him comfortable, offered him a drink and took him to a staff lounge instead of an interrogation room.

"Anything else we can get you?" Merle began.

"Nah, I just need to get this over with."

"You called me," Merle said.

"Yeah."

"Where did you get my number?"

"Enid had a card; I got the number from her. I know her through Fred, she's a nice girl."

"You know who did this...you know who killed Juno Ferguson," Daryl pressed.

"Yes, and he's the most important person in the world to me."

Merle frowned then as it hit him exactly who it was. Why hadn't it hit him sooner?

"Fred," Merle muttered.

"He turned up at my place in the wee hours of the morning, shaking and covered in blood. He couldn't keep it together for even a sentence. I was horrified that someone I love could do something like this...but God help me, I still love him."

"So you wanted to turn him in, but you didn't want him to know it was you?" Merle broached.

"If you found him right away he'd know it was me...nobody else had any idea except his mother."

"Jeanie knew about this?" Daryl queried.

"She's the one who picked him up at the lake and brought him to my place."

"That's some mother," Merle noted.

"What did he say to you, though? Why did he do this?"

"He could barely speak that night...all he did was cry and shake. It had to be about Juno and his dad though. I'm disgusted by what he did, I can never see him the same way...but I still love him. Does that make sense?"

"It makes a lot of sense," Merle sighed.

"It's eating him alive at this point anyway; he needs to deal with it now. I was just about to call you again to tell you everything, but it's not easy for me to turn him in."

"Why did you run then?" Daryl asked.

"Instinct?" Damien grinned.

"I gotta say, Fred seemed really calm when we talked to him at the university," Merle noted.

"He spent the rest of the day pissing himself, though. He kept saying you guys could see right through him and were gonna show up at any moment."

"Nah, he was pretty convincing," Daryl said.

Daryl knew there was a final piece that didn't fit though, and only one person could explain that piece. He needed to talk to Carol. He insisted that they take a short break so that he could mention the DNA to Merle.

Out in the hallway, Merle seemed to know what was on his mind right away. The Dixon brother's had a telepathy that made their partnership a great one on the job.

"Why the fuck does the DNA match if Fred is the one who killed her?" Merle blurted. "Why would this guy name his partner as the killer if he didn't do it?"

"The tech said something about isolating male DNA...maybe..."

"What?"

"I gotta call Carol."

Daryl dialed her number and started rambling the second she picked up.

"Slow down, babe. What's the problem?"

"Could the DNA match between Fred and Brad Straub for the fingernail scrapings?"

"Yes. It was only Y-strand DNA, not the full profile, so it isolates only the male component. The DNA will be a match between father and son unless there's a mutation. Get me Fred's DNA, and I can prove it definitively for you."

"We got him."

"Nice work, detective," she praised.

"Can I come over tonight?" he growled.

"You better. Now go wrap it up."

Daryl grinned and hung up the phone.

"It's all good. It was this kind of test where they-"

"I heard," Merle grinned. "Let's go make an arrest...babe."

They were just about to ask Damien a few more questions when Tara called them from the end of the hallway.

"Merle, I need a word with you!"

"What's up?"

"Whoever filled in for your guy at the record shop called Fred Straub to tell him that the cops took his boyfriend in," she sighed. "He knows the jig is up."

"Fuck! How do you know that?"

"Cause we just got a call from the university. He just climbed the clock tower on campus, and he's threatening to jump."

"Jesus Christ!" Merle exclaimed.

"You've got crisis negotiator training. You wanna go talk a murderer off a ledge?" Tara asked.

"Damn it! This case never ends," Merle groaned.

 


	21. Jumper

_**The Murder of Juno Ferguson** _

_**~ Chapter Twenty-One** _

_**{ Jumper }** _

Merle and Daryl brought Damien with them to the university, hoping maybe Damien could help talk him down if it came to that. Merle wasn't normally the man to be called for this kind of job, but their regular crisis negotiator was on leave.

"What can I say to get him down?" he asked Damien.

"I don't know...he's not the same these days. I'd say you should mention his mother, but he's so hard to read lately."

Merle arrived on scene with Daryl and spoke to the police officer that was called first.

"Has he said anything?"

"All he said was to stay back," the officer noted. "If he killed that girl you should just let him fuckin' jump."

"That ain't my call. My job is to get him to court alive," Merle sighed.

"Should I come too?" Daryl asked as Merle entered the elevator to the clock tower with the maintenance man.

"I need to do this alone. He might feel cornered and just jump if there's too many people."

"Good luck," Daryl said, reaching out to smack his brother's arm just before the doors closed.

A grey sky hung low and ominous overhead when he read the rooftop of the tower. The maintenance man who opened the door for Merle seemed unfazed by the situation and almost calm.

"How did he get up here anyway?" Merle asked.

"The kid said he was going to take pictures for the photography club," he shrugged. "I didn't know he was a nutter."

"Don't let anyone else through here; we don't want to spook him," Merle instructed.

"Didn't he kill that girl?" the man asked.

"It's as much for the people down on the ground that we don't want him to jump...imagine getting that out of your head," Merle noted.

"I guess so."

Merle spotted the young man at the edge of the roof with his legs dangling over the edge and came closer slowly; he hated heights. The roof was massive in terms of square feet, but he exited the door of the roof with only 25 feet between himself and Fred Straub.

"Fred?" he said in his calmest voice.

"Don't bother. I'm done," Fred answered.

The young man didn't turn to see who it was, Merle's voice was easily recognizable, so he likely didn't have to.

"A little conversation can't hurt if you've made up your mind anyway."

Merle turned on the voice recorder on his cell phone and moved it to his top pocket for better voice clarity. If Fred did jump, he hoped to obtain a confession to put the Ferguson's minds to rest at least.

"Is that something they taught you in cop school?" Fred mocked dryly. "Just keep 'em talkin', use their name a lot, talk about their family."

"You got it just about by the letter, kid," Merle chuckled.

"I don't deserve to live," Fred sighed, looking out over the campus as more students began to gather below.

"Why don't you at least tell me why you did it?" Merle asked.

"It wasn't supposed to go down that way, but she's the one who started this whole thing. Juno ruined everything; I don't have a family anymore because of her."

"Were your parents close before her?"

"No, but it worked for them, it's who they were, and they were both always there for me at least...after he started fucking her, my dad didn't care about anything else."

"When did you find out?"

"About a month ago...but he said he'd stop it with her. I told my dad if he didn't call it off, I'd tell my mom."

"She found out from you?"

"When I went to tell her, it turned out she already knew. She found out from a phone call she overheard between them and also she found one of those pictures...you know the ones I mean, I'm sure."

"Yes, I do."

"Everyone thinks my mom is a harpy...and she is," Fred chuckled, "but she can still be broken, and my father broke her into pieces. She is a proud woman, and he humiliated her by running around with someone my age."

"This was just revenge? A young girl is dead over a broken heart?"

"She's dead cause I lost it when nobody would listen to me. I tried to talk to my dad, and he kept going back to her, so then I decided to talk to her."

The wind was blowing harder, and Fred still hadn't even turned to look back at him, that was Merle's advantage.

"Are they waiting for a show to start?" Fred asked nobody in particular. "Do you think they'll scream when I start to fall?"

Merle wasn't getting into all of that, he wanted answers and to ease himself closer to Fred silently.

"So you showed up at the party that Friday?"

"Yeah, and as soon as she saw me she took off and tried to leave in her car, but she was going to hear me out...she was going to know what she did to me."

"You took a gun just to talk to her?"

"I took the gun so she'd have to hear me. I got in her car, and when she saw the gun, she stopped and just looked at me. She said she was sorry and that she loved my father. Juno didn't know anything about love or friendship."

"How did it happen?" Merle asked.

_**Just keep him talking and don't make a sound.** _

Merle edged inches closer to him across the rooftop, one tiny inch at a time.

"I made her drive to the lake at gunpoint. I told her how she broke up my family, how she made my mother cry, how selfish she was for not thinking of anyone but herself. She said she didn't know he was married at first; she was a liar."

"She really didn't know until it had been going on for months, your dad's the one who lied to her."

"Maybe I should have killed him instead."

"When did you decide to kill her?"

"I didn't. When we got to the lake, she started to freak out, and she lunged at me...the gun went off then."

"You're trying to tell me it was an accident?"

"I don't care if you believe that...I'm jumping anyway, so people can believe whatever they want, but yeah, it was an accident."

"But you strangled her."

_**A few more inches...don't turn around, kid...just keep looking out at the sky...don't turn around...** _

"Have you ever seen it...when you shoot someone in the head, but they don't die?" Fred asked.

"No."

"It's like nothing else I've ever seen or heard before...she was gurgling and just looking at me all horrified...I don't know if she was even thinking at that point...I don't know if her brain was really functioning...I need to jump because I can't stop seeing her face," Fred winced.

"So why didn't you just shoot her again?"

"I only had the one bullet; I didn't go there to kill her, just to scare her."

"So instead of getting help for her, you strangled her with your bare hands?" Merle growled.

He didn't much care if Fred jumped at that point, but the cop in him still edged closer.

"We were miles from anywhere...it wouldn't have helped. She was bleeding from the nose and mouth...it was a nightmare, and I can't stop seeing it every fucking time I close my eyes. Strangling her was the kindest thing I could do."

Merle could see Fred's grip tighten on the very edge of the roof; he was going to jump.

"Tell her parents that I'm sorry...I'm not going to lie and say I liked her, not after what she did to me, not after I thought she was my friend. I didn't mean to kill her though...she didn't deserve that."

Merle had nothing else to go on, so he tried the last thing he could before it ended in a suicide.

"Damien is here...what about him?"

"Damien..." Fred uttered. "He doesn't love me anymore...I can feel it when he looks at me. He's gonna find a better man than me."

"He still loves you, he said so less than an hour ago," Merle pressed.

He couldn't believe that Fred hadn't turned to look at him once, and he was only inches away, close enough to grab him.

"If I see him, or hear his voice I don't think I can do this, but I have to do this...it's over for me."

Fred shifted his weight from one hip to the other, and his right leg dipped down off the edge of the roof. People gasped below, and a few young women shrieked. Merle lunged at him then and caught him by the coat around his throat.

"Nope. You ain't getting out of this!" he growled.

Fred turned to smack at him, and a brief scuffle took place until Merle overpowered the much smaller man. Merle was so close to the edge that he felt dizzy for a moment until he yanked Fred back onto the landing.

Merle had Fred pinned to the roof, straddling his thighs as he reached to his lower back for his cuffs.

Fred gave up then and looked up at Merle's face in agony.

"Why couldn't you just let me do it?"

"You don't deserve to stop seeing her face or hearing the sound of that gurgling, Fred...not yet anyway. I want you to keep seeing it. I want you to hear the victim impact statements in court from her family. Giving Juno's family the chance to tell you what you did to them is my job, and I take that very seriously."

"I'll do it sometime...they can't be watching me all the time."

"Not on my watch. You do what you want after you're convicted, but not on my watch."

Merle turned him over, cuffed him and began to read him his rights as Daryl stepped out onto the roof.

"Fred Straub, you are under arrest for the murder of Juno Ferguson. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney, and to have an attorney present during any questioning."

/

"You did it."

"We all did it," Merle corrected. "You're a hell of a cop, brother. You were made for this."

"I learned from the best."

They sat on the front steps of their home precinct as evening fell and Merle knew something had to give, he needed help.

"You gonna keep your promise?" Daryl asked.

Merle looked over at his younger brother's blue eyes and knew he had to; there was no running from it anymore.

"Yeah...do you think less of me now?"

"Fuck no. You're human, Merle. You're still the best homicide cop this city has ever known, and when you get back to work, you will be again."

The sun began to set, and Merle knew that he'd have some explaining to do with the Ferguson's, but it would be worth it. They finally got the right man, and that would have to be some consolation.

 

 


	22. Freedom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story was very challenging for me but I'm so happy that I wrote it. I hope everyone enjoyed it and that it wasn't too easy to figure out or too confusing. I am never the one to figure out a 'whodunnit' so writing this was tricky for me.   
> Thanks for reading! xoxo

_ **The Murder of Juno Ferguson** _

_**~ Chapter Twenty-Two** _

_**{ Freedom }** _

 

"I can't believe that anyone could be this cold."

Kendall Ferguson was holding his wife's hand so tightly her fingers were almost white. Listening to the audio of Fred Straub from the rooftop wasn't easy, but Merle wanted them to hear it for themselves.

"I'm sorry we didn't get the right man the first time, but with the DNA it just led us in the wrong direction."

"The right man is behind bars now...that's what matters," Julia smiled. "Thank you both for this."

"It was our honor. We had an amazing team on this case, and it couldn't have been solved without every one of them," Merle nodded.

"We'll be back for the trial as soon as we receive notice," Kendall said after shaking both of their hands and lifting his youngest daughter's suitcase into the family van.

"Thank you," Charlotte said softly. "My sister can rest now."

"You're welcome," Daryl smiled.

/

"This is what it's all about, little brother. There's nothing like a solved murder case...nothing else on Earth."

Back home on his deck, next to his brother, Merle decided to make good on his promise to seek help.

"I'm going to a meeting tomorrow...and if they think I need some kind of in-patient thing I'll do that too," he said.

"I'm happy to hear it," Daryl praised. "You'll be back at it in no time, and you'll be even better than before."

"I'm thinking of maybe going into the training division actually. I spoke to the chief about it, and he seems to think it's a great idea."

"What?"

"I could put all of my years of experience into training the ones coming behind me...I could be around for the wife and kids more...I know it's a disappointment but-"

"It isn't a disappointment, Merle. I was just surprised. You do what you have to do, and I'll always support you, you know that."

"I know."

"Carol agreed to come away with me for the long weekend," Daryl winked.

"Has a woman finally put a collar on you, little brother?" Merle grinned.

"I'll never find a better woman than Carol, and I don't ever plan to look."

"When you find one as good as Andrea or Carol, you just count your blessings and behave yourself."

"Speaking of Carol, I better get going to pick her up."

"Say hello for me," Merle nodded and grabbed the empty lemonade jug to take back inside.

"So you'll be off for the next two weeks?" Daryl checked again.

"At least two weeks, I need to see what the addiction specialist says."

"Don't rush."

"I won't. I'm dealing with this once and then moving on," Merle assured him.

"Goodnight, man."

"Night, Daryl. You did fuckin' great on this case. You are the best man to replace me."

"You're still the best there is, Merle."

/

"Are you still a cop if you're a teacher?" Brady asked as he crawled into bed next to Charlie.

"I'll always be a cop, son. It's just that I need to take a step back to be with you two boys and your mother more...I need to take some time to get better."

"You sick?" Mark asked.

"In a way, but nothing you need to worry about. I need help dealing with stress in a better way."

"Timeouts!" Mark agreed.

"That's right. Daddy needs a timeout. Goodnight, my boys."

"Night, daddy!" they sang in unison and Merle sighed to himself as he turned out the light.

/

"Do I finally get you to myself?" Andrea grinned.

"I'm all yours, love."

Merle took off his watch, turned off the alarm and crawled into bed with his wife well before 11 pm for once.

"What time is your meeting?" she asked.

"I'm meeting with the counselor at 1 pm, and I'm gonna do whatever he says."

"Good man."

"This is our time now, honey. No more late nights with Mr. Jameson...you got me every night now."

Andrea rolled over him and kissed his lips slow and sexy. Merle felt her soft blonde hair cover his face and the scent of coconut and cream took him over.

"You smell so fuckin' good I could eat you alive," he growled.

"You better," she giggled and just like that they were in a heaven of their own making.

Merle was on his way back to life. He could step back from his post with ease in his heart. The city of Atlanta was in good hands with professionals like Daryl, Tara, Carol, Eugene and the rest of the crew back at their precinct. He was also excited at the idea of teaching, he'd have regular hours, and he could still help with the effort against violent offenders. Merle realized that he wasn't the only one to bear the burden of these cases and that it was ridiculous for anyone to try. Merle Dixon was just an ordinary man, and that's all he had to be: a husband, a father, and a brother.

Merle made sweet slow love to Andrea and then settled down to sleep with thoughts of the future guiding him into peaceful rest. The struggle to give up drinking wouldn't be easy, but it was a battle worth fighting. Merle would slay the demon of addiction and come back stronger than ever; he wasn't about to throw in the towel when he had so much to live for.

/

"I knew you could do it."

Merle was sitting on a bale of hay in a big red barn, and Juno was brushing a palomino horse in front of him. The air was cool, and outside the barn doors, a black sky was peppered with twinkling stars.

"You did say that," he agreed.

"Do you think my dad understands?"

"I think so."

"I never would have fallen for a man like Brad if I had known it could end this way...but how could I know?"

"Are you at peace now, Juno?"

"As much as I can be...just make sure that prick stays in jail for me," she winked.

"I will, honey. I promise."

Juno set the brush down on the ground and mounted the horse with ease.

"I'm going for a ride; it's a beautiful night. I think I'll stay here on the farm," she sighed. "Thank you for everything, detective."

"It was my honor, Juno."

"We can both rest now...you've done your job," she nodded.

She led the horse out of the barn and into the coral in the night. Fireflies danced in the distant grasses, and the moon shone down on her raven black hair. Juno would stay this young and beautiful forever in the minds of those who loved her, Juno would never grow old.

Merle smiled and sighed heavily at the notion of stepping down from his post. Juno was free now, and so was he.

 


End file.
